A view of the Grand Canal, Venice, looking North West from the Chiesa degli Scalzi to the Chiesa Santa Lucia

The focus of this view is on the north bank of the Grand Canal with the Church of the Scalzi and its distinctive white marble facade, erected by Giovanni Sardi in 1672-80. In the distance is the classical facade of the church of Santa Lucia as rebuilt by Leonardo Mocenigo between 1580-90 with a remarkable family chapel designed by Palladio. The complex of the church of Santa Lucia was demolished during the 1840s by the Austrians to make way for the railway station of the same name, which was itself replaced by the current station in 1954. The monastery buildings of the Church of the Scalzi were also demolished at that time.
The present painting can be regarded as a pendant to lot 100 in this sale. Both pictures were discovered recently in different properties. They have the same old inventory number (on the reverse) and nearly identical measurements. The commission and early provenance of these pictures is yet to be identified.
The present lot and its pendant emanate from a studio whose oeuvre has traditionally been grouped under the title of the Master of the Langmatt Foundation Views. The eponymous works in the Langmatt Foundation, Baden, comprise a set of nine pictures (each approximately 46 x 73 cm.) and a set of four smaller views (approximately 25 x 38 cm.; see the exhibition catalogue Mythos Venedig, Baden, June-October 1994, pp. 62-117). Recently it has been suggested that the Master of the Langmatt Foundation Views may be identified as Apollonio Domenichini (active circa 1740-1760). A slightly smaller version of the present lot was sold at Christies, London, 4 July 2012, lot 224.