Studio of Giovanni Antonio Canal, called Canaletto (Venice 1697 - 1768), Venice, A View of Piazza San Marco, Looking West from South of the Central Line

oil on canvas. 26 by 44 in.; 66 by 111.8 cm. Estimate 200,000—300,000 USD

PROVENANCE: Sir John Field Beale, by circa 1930;
Thence by descent to J.H. Taylor;
By whom sold, New York, Sotheby's, June 9, 1983, lot 65, for $130,000 (as Studio of Canaletto).

CATALOGUE NOTE: The present painting is a larger studio replica of Canaletto's Piazza San Marco: looking West from South of the Central Line, in the collection of the Duke of Bedford, Woburn Abbey. The original canvas was one of a set of twenty-four views by Canaletto painted for John, 4th Duke of Bedford (1710-71). These paintings, which were commissioned by the Duke circa 1731-32, came to Woburn Abbey in 1800; prior to that they had hung in the large drawing room and adjacent small eating room at Bedford House, Bloomsbury, which was torn down in that same year.¹

Two related drawings by Canaletto of the Piazza San Marco Looking West are recorded in the Queen's collection at Windsor (no. 7433) and in the Louvre (no. 4794). In these drawings, however, the viewpoint is farther west, closer to the Procuratie Nuove, at left, and the Loggetta is not included.

1. See, W.G. Constable and J.G. Links, Canaletto, Oxford 1989, vol. I, plate 15, no. 27, vol. II, p. 197, no. 27.

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