CARLO GRUBACS | Feast of the Redentore in Venice by moonlight

Brescia, Palazzo Martinengo Cesaresco, Lo splendore di Venezia : Canaletto, Bellotto, Guardi e i vedutisti dell'Ottocento, 23 January - 12 June, 2016, no. 51.

D. Dotti (ed.), Lo splendore di Venezia : Canaletto, Bellotto, Guardi e i vedutisti dell'Ottocento, exhibition catalogue, Milan 2016, pp. 44, 172, no. 51,  reproduced p. 43, fig. 10 and p. 173;
F. Magani, La Venezia dei Grubacs, Treviso 2017, p. 25, reproduced p. 24, fig. 15.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting is in beautiful condition. The canvas is unlined, but the tacking edges have been reinforced to allow for proper stretching. The paint layer is stable and very attractive. It is clean and varnished. No retouches are visible under ultraviolet light, and it does not seem that the varnish is blocking their identification. It seems that the painting is undamaged and in excellent state.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Carlo Grubacs, one of the most prolific vedutisti of 19^th century, was the son of a Merchant Navy captain; he studied and frequently exhibited at the Academy of Fine Arts in his native Venice. Like his contemporaries including Ippolito Caffi and Federico Moja, Grubacs here depicts one of the most beloved and best-known festivals in Venice: the Feast of the Most Holy Redeemer, or Redentore. On the third Sunday of July, Venetians commemorate the end of the terrible plague of 1576 that killed 50,000 people, and give thanks for the survival of the city. Grubacs chose a viewpoint from St. Mark’s basin that includes the Church of the Redeemer, Andrea Palladio's masterpiece of religious architecture. After sundown, revelers fill festive boats adorned with lanterns as they watch the fireworks display. Grubacs’s canvas captures the magical feeling of the nocturnal festival with details like the reflection of the moonlight, the multicolored fireworks, and the lanterns flickering against the water.