Giovanni Antonio Canal, called Canaletto (Venice 1697 - 1768), Venice, A View of the Piazzetta looking north. photo

oil on canvas; 81.7 by 128.2 cm.; 32 1/4 by 50 1/2 in. Estimate 2,000,000—3,000,000 GBP. Lot Sold 2,225,250 GBP

PROVENANCE: Maximilien-Joseph Hurtault (1765-1824), his deceased sale, Paris, Bohain, Leroux, & Pérignon, 7 February 1825, lot 2 (probably one of a set of four views of Venice);
Parent collection;
Acquired in 1868 by Comte Henri Greffulhe (1848-1932);
His deceased sale ("Sold by Order of the Comtesse Greffulhe and the Duc and Duchesse de Gramont"), London, Sotheby's, 22 July 1937, lot 56, for 210 gns. to Bernard;
With Sabin Galleries, London;
From whom acquired by Sir Harry Hague, 1938;
With Edward Speelman, London;
With Arthur Tooth & Sons Ltd., London;
Private collection, England, from where sold ("The Property of a Gentleman"), London, Sotheby's, 5 July 2006, lot 58, where acquired by the present owner.

EXHIBITED: London, Sabin Galleries, French and Venetian Paintings of the 18th Century, 1938, no. 11.

LITERATURE AND REFERENCES: Gazette des Beaux-Arts, Paris, series II, vol. XV, 1877, p. 168, cited but not illustrated;
W.G. Constable, Canaletto, 2nd edition revised by J.G. Links, Oxford 1989, vol. II, pp. 216-217, no. 65.

NOTE: This large, imposing view of the Piazzetta is dated by Constable and Links (see Literature) to the early 1730s. A similar view of the Piazzetta, commissioned by John, 4th Duke of Bedford (1710-1771), and likely to date from before 1736, is at Woburn Abbey.¹ The present painting is considerably larger than the Woburn picture and differs in many details, including the lion on the Campanile, which here faces left, as it does in Canaletto's drawing in Windsor.² An architectural drawing of this view, without any figures, is in Darmstadt: it was made by Canaletto in preparation for the Woburn picture but was probably also used for the other painted versions of the composition.³

The 1730s represent the highpoint of Canaletto's production. By the beginning of the decade he had developed the style that posterity judges as his most characteristic and that made him the most sought after view painter in Europe. The moody, atmospheric works of the 1720s were replaced by sun-bathed scenes, painted with even greater attention to detail and a level of refinement that remained consistently high throughout the course of the decade, despite the weight of commissions.

According to Constable the first recorded owner of this picture was the architect, Maximilien Joseph Hurtault (1765-1824), best known today for having restored the Palais des Tuileries in Paris and for erecting the Pavillon de l'Étang and the Fountain of Diana at Fontainebleau. Hurtault taught at the École des Beaux-Arts and was given the responsibility of inspecteur général du conseil des bâtiments civils. He won a grand prix d'architecture in 1797 and subsequently travelled to Italy where, one might assume, he may have acquired this work by Canaletto. In the 1825 sale of his collection six paintings by Canaletto are recorded; a set of four views of Venice (two of the Grand Canal and two of the Piazza San Marco) and a pair of views (one of the Doge's Palace and the other of the Grand Canal).⁴

Links states that the painting was damaged during the Second World War and had to be restored. A small group of figures immediately behind the standing Turk in the middle distance, just to the right of centre, can be seen in the catalogue illustration of the 1937 sale but are now no longer visible.

We are grateful to Charles Beddington for endorsing the attribution, following first-hand inspection. He favours a dating of circa 1738, slightly later than that proposed by Constable, and believes therefore that it post-dates the Woburn version of the same subject.

1. Oil on canvas, 47 by 78.8 cm.; 18 1/2 by

Old Master & British Paintings Evening Sale, 08 Dec 10, London www.sothebys.com