Lot 200. Francesco Guardi (Venice 1712-1793), Venice, a view of the Piazza San Marco, looking East, oil on canvas, 40.5 x 62 cm.; 16 x 24 1/2  in. Estimate 100,000 — 150,000 GBP. Lot sold 125,000 GBP. Photo: Sotheby's.

Provenance: H.M. Clark, London, 1924;
Anonymous sale, Paris, Charpentier, 22 May 1933, lot 79, to Alexander for 58,000 francs;
Madame Lebel, Paris;
By whom sold ('Property of Madame L'), Paris, Charpentier, 24 June 1937, lot 27;
Fernand Adda (1890–1965), Paris and Cannes;
By whom sold, ('Collection d'une Grand Amateur'), Paris, Palais Galliera, 29 November 1965, lot 108;
Private collection, France;
Anonymous sale, Paris, Palais Galliera, 24 June 1968, lot 29;
Private collection, France;
Anonymous sale, Cannes, Appay-Gairoard-Besch, 22 December 1998, lot 1.

Literature: Weltkunst, 1 May 1968, p. 372 (advertisement);
A. Morassi, Guardi: I dipinti, Venice 1993, vol. I, p. 375, cat. no. 340.

Notes: This painting is a mature work by the artist, painted circa 1775–80, and described by Morassi as an ‘opera di buona qualità’. It depicts the Piazza San Marco looking towards the Basilica and the great Campanile, and was one of Guardi's most popular compositions. To fulfil the great demand from eighteenth-century Grand Tourists for this quintessential Venetian view, Guardi returned to it on numerous occasions, varying slightly the viewpoint, the different groupings of figures and the light. Morassi lists no fewer than twenty-eight variants of the Piazza San Marco looking east. In this version, Guardi depicted the piazza on a brilliant, sunny day with strong light coming from the left, casting the Procuratie Vecchie and the left side of the piazza in dramatic shadow. Typical of Guardi's late style is the careful use of black to delineate the architectural details, as can be seen on the Procuratie Nuove at right. A similar version to the present painting, also a late work, with some of the same figural groupings and shadow at left, was sold in Paris in 1991.1

This painting will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the work of Francesco Guardi being prepared by Dr Dario Succi.

1. View of the Piazza San Marco, oil on canvas, 71 by 95.5 cm.; Anonymous sale, Paris, Ader, Picard, Tajan, 9 April 1991, lot 45, sold for 3,700,000 francs.

Sotheby's. Old Masters Day Sale, London, 07 Jul 2016