Friedrich Nerly (Erfurt 1807 - 1878 Venice), A Winter View of the Grand Canal, Venice, from the Palazzo Cavalli-Franchetti towards Santa Maria della Salute

signed on the side of the wooden vat lower right F.Nerlij. oil on canvas. 25 3/4 by 40 1/2 in.; 65 by 103 cm. Estimate 200,000—300,000 USD.

NOTE: This evocative and atmospheric Winter View of the Grand Canal is an extremely rare depiction of a snow-covered Venice. It shows the view looking down the canal from the Campo della Carità (the moorings at the edge of the square are seen at the extreme right), east towards the church of the Salute and the Punta della Dogana, which the artist outlines in hazy profile against the early morning sky. The large and impressive Palazzo Cavalli-Franchetti with its garden is at the left, followed by the Palazzi Barbaro, Benzon Foscolo, Pisani and Succi, which are echoed by other mansions on the opposite shore, including the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni (now the Guggenheim museum) in the distance.

Nerly has captured perfectly the light and mood of a winter day in Venice. The cold and slightly opaque morning light seems to muffle the sound of the boats as they pass along the waterway, and the light dusting of snow accentuates the Gothic tracery and flourishes of the great Venetian palaces. In an earlier painting, datable to circa 1835/40, the artist painted the view on a brighter day from a different vantage point, slightly further to the south, from the terra firma of the Campo della Carità, where he shows passengers embarking onto gondole (Art market, London). In the present case, the viewpoint that Nerly has chosen is quite dramatic, almost as if he positioned himself floating above the water itself. Indeed, this might have been the case, as the Ponte dell'Accademia was built to cross this section of the canal in 1854, and it seems that the artist took his view from about the center of the bridge.

Indeed the picture would appear to date to just after this time, as suggested by certain details of the Palazzo Cavalli-Franchetti. After the untimely death in 1847 of the Austrian Archduke Frederick Ferdinand, who had started to modernize the palace in the early 1840s, it was bought by Henri, Comte de Chambord who hired the architect Giambattista Meduna to make further improvements on the property. During these years the buildings to the west of the structure were pulled down, and a garden—which is visible in the picture—was laid in. The roof of the building still retains in the present picture the Palladian dormer window, with scrolls, that was removed after it was bought by Baron Franchetti in 1878 (the year of the artist's death). Thus a dating of about 1865-75 would appear to be correct for the picture.

Friedrich Nerlich was born in Erfurt, in central Germany, and after some initial self-training in art, he was encouraged by the art collector and scholar Baron Carl Friedrich von Rumohr, with whom the artist would travel to Italy in 1828. The painter arrived in Rome, and lived there for six years, Italianizing his name to the more euphonious "Nerly." There he became a leader amongst the expatriate German community of artists, finally moving to Venice in 1835, where he lived the rest of his life. He set up a studio in the Palazzo Pisani, and began to produce more romanticizing and atmospheric vedute of the city, including nocturnal views, and in the present case, a rare winter scene.

Sotheby's. Important Old Master Paintings, Including European Works of Art. 29 Jan 09. New York www.sothebys.com photo courtesy Sotheby's