The Island of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice
Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore di Venezia
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A view of the island and church of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice from the lagoon. The church and buildings are on the left. People enter the church. In the foreground there is a boat to the right and a gondola in the centre. Other boats and gondolas appear in the distance.
Six small paintings of the Venetian islands by Francesco Guardi and probably also his son are at Waddesdon. Francesco Guardi painted this scene many times, including in the very large painting now at Waddesdon (acc. no. 2212.2). Usually the scene is taken from further back, with more boats and the Giudecca island also included.
This is probably a late work by Francesco Guardi, though it has been argued recently that the painting is actually by Guardi's son Giacomo, painted with his father's supervision. The two worked together at the end of Francesco's life making it difficult to firmly attribute paintings from this period.
Francesco came from a successful family of artists who settled in Venice around 1700. From the 1750s on, he specialised in painting views known in Italian as 'vedute'. They were very popular with foreign tourists. Towards the end of his career, Francesco was assisted by his younger brother, Nicolò, and his son Giacomo. Giacomo produced many small drawings of Venetian views, some copied from his father's work. After Francesco's death, Giacomo sold his father's remaining paintings, particularly to foreigners who visited Venice as part of the Grand Tour. Giacomo also finished some of the paintings himself which were probably still sold as by Francesco. The recent observation that this painting shows the hand of Giacomo may mean that it was produced in one of these ways.
The six paintings at Waddesdon are on both canvas and panel, although they most probably were always part of the same series (see also acc. nos 900, 902, 2432, 3690, 3624). They were amongst a set of twelve paintings in the G. A. F. Bentinck-Cavendish sale in July 1891. The pictures missing at Waddesdon from this series are the Islands of Santa Maria, San Secondo, Madonna del Rosario, Lazzaretto Vecchio, Sant'Andrea del Lido, and one of the two 'Views of the outskirts of the Town'. There are a similar set of twelve paintings of the Venetian lagoon islands in the Budapest Museum that are probably also by Giacomo Guardi.
Francesco based his compositions on other artist's prints and paintings, including Canaletto (1697-1768). He developed a looser and freer style of painting than his contemporary. He often took liberties with the scenes he represented. His pictures are not accurately datable from the buildings they show. The six paintings at Waddesdon appear to be modelled on the engravings in Antonio Visentini's 'Isolario Veneto', published in 1777.
There are similar views attributed to Francesco Guardi at Williamstown, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, showing a comparable view of island and boats, and at Glasgow Art Gallery, though with more boats in foreground and an island to the right. Giacomo also depicted a similar view, though with buildings also to the right and more boats (Sotheby's Milan, 12-13 November 2003, lot 130) and a view from further back, with buildings to the right and more boats (Sotheby's London, 10 July 2008, lot 276).
Phillippa Plock, 2012
Dimensions (mm) / weight (mg)
173 x 246
Signature & date
not signed or dated
Marks
374 e
Stamp
on verso of painting, stamped partly over label with a small figure | above
Inscriptions
Isola di S. Giorgio Maggiore de Venezia
Inscription
on verso of painting,possibly in 19th-century Italian hand
Labels
[S?]. 619
Label
on verso of paining, label with ink, 54 x 33 mm with double rule border
W1/71/4
Label
on verso of frame (white oval label)
TL
Label
on verso of painting (white round label)
Provenance
- Owned by George Cavendish-Bentinck (b.1821, d.1891); sold as part of lot 661 'A set of twelve pictures of the Islands of the Lagune, Venice' at Christie's London, G.A.F. Cavendish-Bentinck sale, 11 July 1890; bought from his sale by Martin Colnaghi, b.1821, d.1908; acquired by Alice de Rothschild (b.1847, d.1922) before 1906; inherited by her great-nephew James de Rothschild (b.1878, d.1957); accepted by the Treasury Solicitor in lieu of taxes on the Estate of Mr James de Rothschild in 1963; given to Waddesdon (National Trust) in 1990.
Collection
- Waddesdon (National Trust)
- Accepted by HM Government in lieu of inheritance tax and allocated to the National Trust for display at Waddesdon Manor, 1990
Bibliography
- George A. Simonson; Francesco Guardi, 1712-1793; London; Metheun; 1904; p. 98; nos 271-274
- Michael Levey, French and Italian Paintings at Waddesdon, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 54, August 1959, 57-66; p. 61; as by Francesco Guardi
- Ellis Waterhouse, Anthony Blunt; Paintings: The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor; Fribourg; Office du Livre, The National Trust; 1967; pp. 318-319, ill.; cat. 159
- Antonio Morassi; Guardi - L'Opera Completa; 3 vols; Venice; Electa; 1993; vol. 1, pp. 289, 436; as by Giacomo Guardi with supervision of Francesco Guardi, dated 1780s
Subjects
- Architecture/Buildings/Religious
- Nature, Landscape & The Elements/Marine (The Sea)
- Architecture/Buildings - Specific/Church of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice
- Objects/Industrial & Maritime Equipment/Boat
- Objects/Industrial & Maritime Equipment/Gondola
- Figures/Male
- Work & Occupations/Trade & Commercial/Boatman