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(Copy from Giovanni Antonio Canal known as Canaletto)
The Rio dei Mercanti
Oil on canvas, cm. 60 x 90
Not signed
ESTIMATE €1,500 – 1,800
Special Notice: This lot is offered with full RESERVES
NOTES: Publication of the catalog of works from the Intermidiart collection. Unsigned work. Certificate of Lawful Origin. Unframed work:
Beautiful painting in antique style, oil on canvas, depicting a beautiful view with the Rio dei Mercanti in Venice. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, some anonymous painters tried their hand at the art of "copying" the great masters of the past. One of these was Canaletto, even if his photographic painting remains inimitable anyway. The painter who performed this work obviously did not want to refer to the master's technique, but he managed with talent to paint this famous view of Venice making us rediscover it in one of the beautiful dawns on the Lagoon. The splendid panoramic view of the view was one of the most replicated and loved subjects by Antonio Canal known as Canaletto (Venice 1697 - 1768) during his long artistic career, only to be resumed by other successful successors to this day.
This image refers to the original made by Canaletto Il Rio dei Mercanti (oil on canvas, cm. 144 x 207, datable 1721-24, Fondazione Musei Civici Venezia, Cà Rezzonico, Inv. CI. I, n. 2326), model of a huge number of other masterpieces. The boats and the characters sometimes change, and so does the point of view captured with the optical camera. However, the result is always extraordinary and perfect. The original painting, together with its counterpart, depicting the Grand Canal from Palazzo Balbi towards Rialto, is one of Canaletto's early masterpieces. Both canvases, purchased by the Municipality of Venice in 1983 from the heirs of Senator Mario Crespi, were originally part of a series of four views owned by the Princes of Liechtenstein (the other two are now in the Thyssen-Bornemisza museum in Madrid ). Right from these first works Canaletto exalts Venice understood as a 'city of water', expanding the forms and spaces through perspective expedients that he had learned in his training as a set designer. To the usual landscape repertoire, centered around St. Mark's Square, the artist adds unpublished shots, dedicated to the lesser-known corners of Venice. This is the case of the Rio dei Mendicanti, where the painter focuses his attention on a popular area, described in all its humble beauty. Canaletto sediments in the composition an unprecedented depth of truth, obtained through an extraordinary use of light that bursts into the scene, illuminating and making it distinctly perceptible even the smallest element. This effect is achieved by exhibiting, almost with brazenness, the signs of the pictorial operation: full-bodied and frayed brushstrokes that offer the viewer a concrete image of the city.
The canvas is a snapshot of life and everyday life, and as in many other works by Canaletto we have the sensation of the temperature of the air, of its degree of humidity, of the light breeze that moves this air.
The painting considered here is characterized by a perspective setting identical to that of the museum versions. The similarities extend to the boats, the figures and the general chromatic affinity, even if they differ in terms of size. The view, characterized by a discrete executive level, is attributable to a contemporary artist who looks at Canaletto - active towards the end of the last century (after the second half of the twentieth century) - who was able to render the characteristics of style and atmosphere of the view preserved in the museums.
With regard to its state of conservation, the canvas is in fairly fair general condition. There are no problems of a conservative nature and it does not seem to require interventions. The measurements of the canvas are cm. 60 x 90. The painting is sold without a frame, although it is embellished with a new gilded and worked frame (frame size approx. 81 x 111 x 6 cm).
Provenance: Coll. private
Publication:
? Unreleased;
? The Myths and the Territory in Sicily with a thousand cultures. UNEDITED QUADRERIA general catalog of paintings from the collection of the cycle "Myths and the territory", Editore Lab_04, Marsala, 2023.
Upon request, the buyer can ask for the purchase of the frame (as shown in the photo), (the dimensions of the frame are approx. 81 x 111 x 6 cm), for € 450.00.
We also guarantee careful packaging with bubble wrap / cardboard / internal polystyrene (packaging cost approximately € 50.00) and tracked shipping (€ 50.00 Italy). For export, the work is subject to a request for a Certificate of Free Circulation (European Community) or a Certificate of Export (Extra Community Transport), at the export office (Superintendency of the territory) with the times and costs burdened ( €300/€900, all included: shipping, packing in wooden crates and export parts).
The shipment could be delayed by a few days/weeks for logistical and administrative reasons. 67567371
