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Lot Essay
Antonio Canaletto turned to etching at the height of his popularity as a painter, when his virtuoso Venetian views were in great demand, especially with the many English aristocratic visitors who passed through the city on the Grand Tour. This lucrative stream of commissions made both his reputation and his fortune, but may have also resulted in the increasingly formulaic style of his later paintings, which John Ruskin scathingly described as 'miserable, heartless, virtueless mechanism' (Bromberg, p. XI).
It can only be speculated why Canaletto at this point in his career decided to create a series of etched Vedute. The taste for painted Venetian views had certainly stimulated a thriving trade in printed views of the city. However, the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-48) had curtailed travelers to Italy and resulted in a temporary cooling of business. The economic timing for the publication of a series of prints was thus far from auspicious and it seems unlikely that the decision to experiment with a new medium was motivated primarily by pecuniary considerations. A more obvious explanation is that Canaletto's patron Joseph Smith (circa 1674-1770) commissioned the prints. A renowned collector, art dealer and agent, Smith was the British Consul to Venice, and spent almost his entire life there, from the early 1700s until the year of his death. He is known to have had an interest in printmaking, having commissioned a series of engravings by Antonio Visentini (1688-1782) after Canaletto's paintings of Venice in his own collection. Whether the initiative to create a set of etched Vedute came from the artist himself or from his patron is not documented. In any case, when the series was ready for publication, Canaletto dedicated it to 'Giuseppe Smith/ Console di S. M. Britannica', as the inscription on the title page reads. It is also uncertain when exactly the plates were etched; only one plate, the later divided Imaginary View of Venice (B. 12) bears the date 1741. The exact date of publication is not known, but it must have been after 6 June 1744, the day Joseph Smith was appointed Consul to Venice, and probably before Canaletto's departure for England in 1746.
Whatever its genesis, the Vedute marked a change in the artist's style and attitude. Unusually for an artist who had made his reputation with views of Venice, it comprises relatively few of the famous sites of the city. Instead, he turned to more vernacular, picturesque buildings, courtyards and views, whether real or fictitious. Instead of topographical accuracy, his etchings betray a renewed interest in the atmospheric, ephemeral aspects of the city, in the play of light and shade on the canals and facades, which he depicted with nervous, quivering lines.
Viscount Norwich eloquently described the effect the etchings seem to have had on the artist: 'All the youthful vigour has returned, the freedom of fancy and line, all the imagination and invention that material success had whittled away. The verticals no longer betray the draughtsman's T-Square, the figures are real people once more, not just short-hand blobs put in to prevent the places looking deserted. New disciplines and techniques demanded a new eye, a new approach to problems of light and shade. Canaletto was himself again...' (Viscount Norwich, Foreword, in: Bromberg, p. XI)
The present set is configured in the Printing Order D I, identifiable by the following four etchings printed on one sheet:
B. 25, Le Procuratie niove e S. Ziminian B. 21, Le Preson
B. 18, La Libreria B. 19, La Piera del Bando
This Printing Order was in use during the 1760s and predates the posthumous edition, published in 1778 by Remondini, with the plates numbered and lettered.
Most of the sheets in the present album bear Triple Crescent above A watermarks and countermarks AS surmounted by a stylized Fleur-de-Lys (cf. Bromberg 22 and 42). These watermarks are also present in the Bassano Album (Museo Archivio e Biblioteca, Bassano) and the bound volume formerly belonging to Sir Roger Newdegate, originally purchased in Venice 1775 and at Christie's, London, 1 July 1987, lot 331 (£ 93,500), together with a similar countermark (cf. Bromberg 43).
Census of the plates:
1. Title Plate (B. 1, II/II)
2. La Torre di Malghera (B. 2, II/II)
3. Mestre (B. 3, I/II)
4. Al Dolo (B. 4, II/III)
5. Ale Porte del Dolo (B. 5, II/III)
6. Le Porte del Dolo (B. 6, II/III)
7. S. Giustina in Prà della Valle (left half) (B. 7, I/II)
8. Prà della Valle (right half) (B. 8, I/II)
9. View of a Town on a River Bank (B. 9, I/II)
10. The Portico with the Lantern (B. 10, II/III)
11. Imaginary View of Padua (B. 11, II/III)
12. The House with the Inscription (left half) (B. 13, I/I) & The House with the Peristyle (right half) (B. 14, II/II)
13. View of a Town with a Bishop's Tomb (B. 16, II/II)
14. Le Procuratie niove e S. Ziminian V. (B. 25, I/II); Le Preson. V. (B. 21, II/III); La Libreria. V. (B. 18, II/III); La Piera del Bando, V. (B. 19, II/III)
15. The Terrace (B. 24, II/III); The Market at Dolo (B. 26, III/IV); Imaginary View of S. Giacomo di Rialto (B. 30, I/II); The Market on the Molo (B. 20, III/IV)
16. Landscape with the Pilgrim at Prayer (B. 27, III/III); The Equestrian Monument (B. 23, I/I); Landscape with a Woman at a Well (B. 29, IIA/III); Mountain Landscape with five Bridges (B. 22, IIA/IIB)
17. Landscape with ruined Monuments (B. 31, I/I); Landscape with Tower and two ruined Pillars (B. 28, II/II)
18. The Little Monunument (B. 33, II/II); The Bishop's Tomb (B. 15, I/I); The Waggon passing over a Bridge (B. 32, II/II)
It can only be speculated why Canaletto at this point in his career decided to create a series of etched Vedute. The taste for painted Venetian views had certainly stimulated a thriving trade in printed views of the city. However, the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-48) had curtailed travelers to Italy and resulted in a temporary cooling of business. The economic timing for the publication of a series of prints was thus far from auspicious and it seems unlikely that the decision to experiment with a new medium was motivated primarily by pecuniary considerations. A more obvious explanation is that Canaletto's patron Joseph Smith (circa 1674-1770) commissioned the prints. A renowned collector, art dealer and agent, Smith was the British Consul to Venice, and spent almost his entire life there, from the early 1700s until the year of his death. He is known to have had an interest in printmaking, having commissioned a series of engravings by Antonio Visentini (1688-1782) after Canaletto's paintings of Venice in his own collection. Whether the initiative to create a set of etched Vedute came from the artist himself or from his patron is not documented. In any case, when the series was ready for publication, Canaletto dedicated it to 'Giuseppe Smith/ Console di S. M. Britannica', as the inscription on the title page reads. It is also uncertain when exactly the plates were etched; only one plate, the later divided Imaginary View of Venice (B. 12) bears the date 1741. The exact date of publication is not known, but it must have been after 6 June 1744, the day Joseph Smith was appointed Consul to Venice, and probably before Canaletto's departure for England in 1746.
Whatever its genesis, the Vedute marked a change in the artist's style and attitude. Unusually for an artist who had made his reputation with views of Venice, it comprises relatively few of the famous sites of the city. Instead, he turned to more vernacular, picturesque buildings, courtyards and views, whether real or fictitious. Instead of topographical accuracy, his etchings betray a renewed interest in the atmospheric, ephemeral aspects of the city, in the play of light and shade on the canals and facades, which he depicted with nervous, quivering lines.
Viscount Norwich eloquently described the effect the etchings seem to have had on the artist: 'All the youthful vigour has returned, the freedom of fancy and line, all the imagination and invention that material success had whittled away. The verticals no longer betray the draughtsman's T-Square, the figures are real people once more, not just short-hand blobs put in to prevent the places looking deserted. New disciplines and techniques demanded a new eye, a new approach to problems of light and shade. Canaletto was himself again...' (Viscount Norwich, Foreword, in: Bromberg, p. XI)
The present set is configured in the Printing Order D I, identifiable by the following four etchings printed on one sheet:
B. 25, Le Procuratie niove e S. Ziminian B. 21, Le Preson
B. 18, La Libreria B. 19, La Piera del Bando
This Printing Order was in use during the 1760s and predates the posthumous edition, published in 1778 by Remondini, with the plates numbered and lettered.
Most of the sheets in the present album bear Triple Crescent above A watermarks and countermarks AS surmounted by a stylized Fleur-de-Lys (cf. Bromberg 22 and 42). These watermarks are also present in the Bassano Album (Museo Archivio e Biblioteca, Bassano) and the bound volume formerly belonging to Sir Roger Newdegate, originally purchased in Venice 1775 and at Christie's, London, 1 July 1987, lot 331 (£ 93,500), together with a similar countermark (cf. Bromberg 43).
Census of the plates:
1. Title Plate (B. 1, II/II)
2. La Torre di Malghera (B. 2, II/II)
3. Mestre (B. 3, I/II)
4. Al Dolo (B. 4, II/III)
5. Ale Porte del Dolo (B. 5, II/III)
6. Le Porte del Dolo (B. 6, II/III)
7. S. Giustina in Prà della Valle (left half) (B. 7, I/II)
8. Prà della Valle (right half) (B. 8, I/II)
9. View of a Town on a River Bank (B. 9, I/II)
10. The Portico with the Lantern (B. 10, II/III)
11. Imaginary View of Padua (B. 11, II/III)
12. The House with the Inscription (left half) (B. 13, I/I) & The House with the Peristyle (right half) (B. 14, II/II)
13. View of a Town with a Bishop's Tomb (B. 16, II/II)
14. Le Procuratie niove e S. Ziminian V. (B. 25, I/II); Le Preson. V. (B. 21, II/III); La Libreria. V. (B. 18, II/III); La Piera del Bando, V. (B. 19, II/III)
15. The Terrace (B. 24, II/III); The Market at Dolo (B. 26, III/IV); Imaginary View of S. Giacomo di Rialto (B. 30, I/II); The Market on the Molo (B. 20, III/IV)
16. Landscape with the Pilgrim at Prayer (B. 27, III/III); The Equestrian Monument (B. 23, I/I); Landscape with a Woman at a Well (B. 29, IIA/III); Mountain Landscape with five Bridges (B. 22, IIA/IIB)
17. Landscape with ruined Monuments (B. 31, I/I); Landscape with Tower and two ruined Pillars (B. 28, II/II)
18. The Little Monunument (B. 33, II/II); The Bishop's Tomb (B. 15, I/I); The Waggon passing over a Bridge (B. 32, II/II)