London: The New Horse Guards from Saint James’s Park, oil on panel, 58.5 x 110 cm, framed

Provenance:
Colonel Robin Buxton, circa 1920;
Mrs. Robin Buxton, Itchen Abbas, Hampshire until at least 1976;
European private collection, Switzerland;
Christie’s London, 6 July 1984, lot 87 (where purchased by the present owners, sold after sale);
European private collection, Switzerland.

Literature:
H. F. Finberg, Canaletto in England, Walpole Society, vol. IX, 1920-21, pp. 57-8 & XIXa;
W. G. Constable, Canaletto, Oxford 1962, and idem (ed. J. G. Links), Oxford 1976, and idem (ed. J. G. Links), Oxford 1989, vol. II, Nr. 417, illus. vol. I, pl. 76; G. Berto and L. Puppi, L’opera completa del Canaletto, Milan 1968, no. 296A; J. G. Links, A Supplement to W. G. Constable’s Canaletto, London 1998, no. 417; C. Beddington, Canaletto in England. A Venetian Artist Abroad, 1746-1755, exhibition catalogue, New Haven 2006, fig. 18.1.

The present composition is closely related to other works by Canaletto including the celebrated painting The Old Horse Guards from Saint James’s Park, 1749 (oil on canvas, 117 x 236 cm; see fig.1) in the Andrew Lloyd Webber Art Foundation, formerly in the collection of the Earl of Malmsbury (see Constable n. 415), as well as Canaletto’s drawing of The Old Horse Guards from Saint James’s Park, (pen and brown ink and grey wash over black chalk, 34.6 x 68.8 cm; see fig.2) in the British Museum (see Beddington, cat.17).

As has been observed by Finberg and Constable (see Literature) the drawing must have been preserved by Canaletto and then used as the base for this composition whilst replacing the building of the Old Horse Guards with the New Horse Guards. When the present composition is compared to the British Museum drawing the arrangement of the figures in the foreground is extremely similar as are details which include the figures airing a carpet outside the houses on the right; smaller, less obvious changes such as the apparent growth of the trees in the garden of the Treasury are also apparent.

New Horse Guards is here shown in the course of construction, in the place of the Old Horse Guards, which had been demolished between 1749 and 1750. Canaletto depicts scaffolding around the clock tower and the south wing has still to be built. An engraving of the subject dated 2 November 1752 shows the buildings partly finished and Horse Guards is missing its cupola. This must establish the date of the present painting as between November 1752 and November 1753 by the time the New Horse Guards was completed.

The painting shows from the left, the Admiralty building, with the spire of James Gibbs’ Saint Martin-in-the-Fields beyond, the New Horse Guards and the Treasury which is partly concealed by the houses of Downing Street on the right side of the composition.

The present composition is one of only three known paintings for which Canaletto used a panel support.

Canaletto in England 1746–1755
Giovanni Antonio Canal, il Canaletto’s almost exclusively English patrons and clientele were reluctant to travel on the continent during the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748) and prompted by the decline of commissions in Venice, Canaletto moved to England in 1746.

Several important Venetian artists had already found success in England in the first half of the 18th Century including Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini in 1708–1713 and Jacopo Amigoni between 1729–1739, Sebastiano and Marco Ricci in 1711–1716, Antonio Bellucci in 1716–1722 and the Modenese artist Antonio Joli in 1744–1748. Significantly Joli was a view painter, or vedutista, like Canaletto and the example of the success that these artists received must have encouraged Canaletto to leave Venice and come to England in search of new commissions.

Before his arrival Canaletto had been assured by his long-standing contacts of introductions to important patrons, and in fact on his arrival Consul Smith and Owen MacSwinny both provided letters of introduction and presented him to patrons such as the Duke of Richmond.

The 18th Century chronicler of the English art world, George Vertue, recorded Canaletto’s arrival in London in 1746. “Later end of May, come to London from Venice the Famous Painter of Views Cannaletti….of Venice. The Multitude of his works done abroad for English noblemen and Gentleman has procured him great reputation and his great merit and excellence in that way, he is much esteemed and no doubt but what views and works He doth here, will give the same satisfaction….”) G. Vertue, Notebooks, published in: The Walpole Society III, 1934, p. 151).

Canaletto was based in England until at least 1755, interrupting his stay in 1750–51 and again in 1753 to return to Venice. In his first two years in England, he chose the Thames and the area around Westminster Bridge as his subject-matter. The bridge was then under construction and its supporting framework, scaffolding, crossed planks and poles gave him a series of attractive motifs, as in London: Seen through an Arch of Westminster Bridge (c. 1746–7; Alnwick Castle, Northumberland.). The two imposing pictures London: The Thames on Lord Mayor’s Day and London: The Thames with Westminster Bridge in the Distance, purchased by Ferdinand Filippe, Prince of Lobkowitz (Prague, National Gallery, Kinský Palace.), were probably painted in circa 1747. In the late summer of that year the Duke of Richmond commissioned Canaletto to make drawings from Richmond House, overlooking the Thames, which resulted in two of his greatest English paintings, London: Whitehall and the Privy Garden and London: The Thames and the City of London from Richmond House (both Goodwood House, West Sussex). London remained the center of his activity, but after 1748 he spent periods away from the city, painting his patrons’ country seat. For the 4th Duke of Beaufort for instance, he painted Views of Badminton (1749; Badminton House, Gloucestershire) In the same year he painted the aforementioned The Old Horse Guards from Saint James’s Park.

Canaletto’s English oeuvre is by no means massive; no more than 40 paintings of English subjects are known and many remain part of the original important aristocratic collections for which they were commissioned, others are in the National Gallery, London, the National Maritime Museum and in the collection of Her Majesty the Queen.

The New Horse Guards
The New Horse Guards fronts Horse Guards Parade, the vast parade ground where traditionally the Monarch takes the salute at the Trooping of The Colour ceremony on their official birthday. The building was completed in 1753 to a design by William Kent, the then Chief Architect to George II. The first Horse Guards building was erected on the site of the former tiltyard of Westminster Palace in 1664. The tiltyard was attached to the Palace of Westminster and had been used until Tudor times for tournaments when they were still an activity favoured by royalty and nobility. The vast Palace of Westminster was destroyed by fire in 1698. Horse Guards served as the offices of the Commander-in-Chief of the Chief and later of the General Staff before subsequently becoming the headquarters of the Household Cavalry. The building is the formal entrance to St. James’s Palace and St. James’s Park.

The Treasury
The Treasury was built in 1734 also to designs by William Kent and also still stands today. The Treasury continued to occupy this building, and expanded also into a new Treasury building designed by John Soane.

The Houses of Downing Street
Between 1682 and 1684, Sir George Downing built townhouses designed by Sir Christopher Wren, complete with coach-houses, stables and views of St. James’s, although large, they were put up quickly on soft soil with shallow foundations. The houses were altered over time however Prime Minster Winston Churchill still complained that Number 10 was shaky and lightly built by the profiteering contractor whose name they bear.

The upper end of the Downing Street had closed off access to St. James’s Park making the street quiet and private. An advertisement in 1720, described it as: “... a pretty open Place, especially at the upper end, where are four or five very large and well-built Houses, fit for Persons of Honour and Quality; each House having a pleasant Prospect into St. James’s Park, with a Tarras Walk.” The houses had several distinguished residents and Downing Street became the official residence of the British Prime Minister at No. 10 and the Chancellor of the Exchequer at No. 11 in 1735, as it still is today.