Gianantonio GUARDI (Vienna 1699-Venice 1760) - Lot 42

Gianantonio GUARDI (Vienna 1699-Venice 1760) Pastoral at the ruined aqueduct Fir panel, three boards, unparqueted (one reinforcement). 92 x 132.5 cm This large unpublished panel joins four other well-known imaginary compositions by Gianantonio Guardi, all on unprepared fir panels of almost identical size, all in the same way on three horizontal boards. These include a lighter-toned pair that appeared in the Biki Leonardi Bouyeure, Porro & C., Milan, October 12, 2004, lots 55-6, both illustrated in color, as Francesco Guardi (A. Morassi, Guardi. L'opera completa di Antonio e Francesco Guardi, Venice, 1973, I, pp. 106-7 and 334, nos. 143-4, fig. 166-9 ; Milan, 1992, p. 148, nos. A12 and A13, and p.304, figs. 219-20). Our panel is stylistically, and in every other way other ways, particularly closely related to a Capriccio of classical ruins with peasants and a soldier by Gianantonio Guardi in the Matthiesen Gallery, London (exhibited by Matthiesen & Stair Sainty Matthiesen, London and New York, Collectanea 1700-1800, January-March 1999, pp. 77-9, no. 13, illustrated in color). The scale of the figures is consistent, both have a predominantly dark tone and similar coloration, and the execution is equally fluid. Indeed, the similarities are so strong that it seems likely that the two were originally part of the same project. Another panel, apparently known only from black-and-white photographs, appears to be also closely related, in its subject, inspired by the prototypes in the North, even closer than the others. Known as Il Grande Abbeveratoio, it is registered in a private collection in Milan (Morassi, I, p. 334, no. 140, II, fig. 159-60, under the name of Gianantonio Guardi with the probable collaboration of Francesco, Pedrocco & Montecuccoli degli Erri, p. 125, no. 25, and pp. 168-9, fig. 25-6, incorrectly described as on canvas). We thank Charles Beddington for confirming the attribution to Gian Antonio Guardi.