(Venice 1710–1744)
Campo di San Giovanni e Paolo, Venice, with the West End of the Church and the Scuola di San Marco,
oil on canvas, 62 x 97.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
with Gallery Delius Giese, London, 1939;
Collection Gordon Turner, London, purchased from the above in 1939;
Collection Château de la Mormaire, France, by 1951;
thence by descent;
sale, Sotheby’s, New York, 27 January 2006, lot 320 (as Michele Marieschi);
sale, Hampel, Munich, 4 July 2008, lot 2009;
Private European collection

Toledano published another later version of the present view by Michele Marieschi (see R. Toledano, Marieschi. L’Opera Completa, Milan 1995, p. 93, no. V. 27. A; and F. Montecuccoli degli Erri/F. Pedrocco, Marieschi, Milan 1999, p. 309, no. 87).

In 1741 Marieschi engraved the same representation of Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo in his collection Magnificentiores selectioresque Urbis Venetiorum prospectus published in Venice. The second state of this engraving bears the number 15 (in the first state the plates were loose).

The composition of the present painting is inspired by a composition by Canaletto which is preserved in the National Gallery of Art, Washington (see W.G. Constable, revised by J.G. Links, Canaletto, Oxford 1989, no. 307, dated to 1731–1732).

In the other version of this subject, mentioned above, as in the engraving, there is an alteration compared to the version by Canaletto: the façade of the church of Santi Giovanni e Paolo appears distorted perspectivally so that it is represented at a three quarter angle that permits it to be seen almost frontally, and therefore more fully. In that sense the present painting is the most faithful to Canaletto’s example. Indeed not only the perspectival framework of the present painting, but also the colour palette is faithful to Canaletto. The palette is in fact cooler, smoother and more classic than in other works by Marieschi. Despite his pursuit of colouristic elegance in the manner of Canaletto, probably due to the demands of a patron, the rich build-ups of impasto which are typical of Marieschi’s work, can be found on the facades of the houses to the left, on the base of the equestrian monument to Bartolomeo Colleoni and on the steps up from the quayside. On account of his fidelity to the work and style of Canaletto, this painting should be dated to an intermediary phase of Michele Marieschi’s brief career, during the years 1733 to 1735, just before Schulenburg’s commissions. Toledano confirmed the attribution of the present painting after examination in the original and suggested that Marieschi may have had some studio assistance in the background architecture. The present work can be compared to the later published version which Toledano dates to 1738 (see ibid. V.27.a).

Charles Beddington has suggested an alternative attribution to Francesco Albotto (Venice 1721–1757) for the present painting.