- New
Landscape with woman at the fountain
| Reference: | A50103 |
| Author | Giovanni Antonio Canal detto CANALETTO |
| Year: | 1735 ca. |
| Measures: | 205 x 135 mm |
€2,500.00
- New
| Reference: | A50103 |
| Author | Giovanni Antonio Canal detto CANALETTO |
| Year: | 1735 ca. |
| Measures: | 205 x 135 mm |
€2,500.00
Description
Etching, circa 1735, signed on the plate lower left with the initials A.C.
From the series Vedute altre prese da i luoghi altre ideate da Antonio Canal (Views taken from places and others conceived by Antonio Canal). Example in the third final state, with a crack in the plate on the right wall of the building.
Beautiful proof, printed on laid paper with partial “R” watermark, with small margins, in excellent condition.
Probably one of Canaletto's earliest engravings, as noted by Dario Succi: “Non sono giustificate le due varianti del secondo stato proposte da Bromberg (1993, p. 155) e i tre stati aggiunti da Montecuccoli (2002, p. 274) basati sulla lunghezza della crepa della lastra di rame: non si si tratta di modifiche apportate dall'artista sulla lastra, ma di variazioni causate dalla progressiva usura del rame. Lo stato finale descritto da Bromberg, recante la scritta Canal sovrapposta alla sigla A.C., di cui esiste un unico esemplare inserito nell'album Zanetti di Berlino, va considerato come una curiosa variante del terzo stato essendo impossibile, come rilevato da Montecuccoli (2002, p. 275), che l'album appartenuto a Zanetti (morto nel 1768) potesse contenere "un ultimo stato, necessariamente remondiniano e per di più molto tardo". Per Pallucchini (1945, p. 15) questa acquaforte e gli altri piccoli paesaggi di soggetto alfine, omogenei per ispirazione e vivacità espressiva, costituirebbero il frutto ultimo di una innovazione operata nella tecnica incisoria, sottratta alla logica ed alla coerenza della sua sintassi particolare per venire sciolta "in una fluidità di segno quasi provvisoria, rapidissima, stracciata". Anche Pittaluga (1952, p. 65) considerava che queste stampe fossero le ultime eseguite, per l'intuito apertamente impressionistico della luce e per la insuperabile capacità della tecnica fluida, libera e scorrevole: "La mancanza di un interesse intrinseco del soggetto, di un rapporto di somiglianza con una veduta reale, induce l'artista ad abbandonarsi illimitatamente al sogno, al ricordo". Pur dando atto dello straordinario valore poetico di questi fogli, capovolgendo la tesi dei due studiosi, è da ritenere che essi segnino l'inizio dell'esperienza incisoria di Canaletto proprio per le caratteristiche del segno guizzante, molto prossimo alla gestualità di alcuni disegni del maestro veneziano, qui ancora impegnato nella ricerca di un autonomo linguaggio incisorio. Importanti indizi a favore della precocità di questo foglio, quasi certamente il primo eseguito intorno al 1740, sono la mancanza della linea di inquadramento e la sigla con le iniziali A.C. posta in basso all'interno dell'immagine: due dettagli mai più ripetuti” (cfr. La Serenissima nello specchio di rame. Splendore di una civiltà figurativa del Settecento. L’opera completa dei Grandi Maestri veneti, I p. 273).
Bibliografia
Dario Succi, La Serenissima nello specchio di rame. Splendore di una civiltà figurativa del Settecento. L’opera completa dei Grandi Maestri veneti, II, p. 273, n. 2, III/III; Bromberg 1993, Canaletto's etchings, revised and enlarged edition of the catalogue raisonné (29.II.A); De Vesme 1906, Le peintre-graveur italien (26).
Giovanni Antonio Canal detto CANALETTO (Venezia 1697 – 1768)
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Better known as Canaletto, was a Venetian artist famous for his landscapes or vedute of Venice. They served as the equivalent of painted postcards for those able to afford the price. He was a son of a painter Bernardo Canal, hence his nickname Canaletto.
He served his apprenticeship with his father and his brother, and began his career as a theatrical scene painter, which was his father's occupation. Canaletto was inspired by the Roman vedutista Giovanni Paolo Pannini and began painting in his famous topographical style after a visit to Rome in 1719. His first known signed and dated work is Architectural Capriccio (1723, Milan, in a private collection). One of his best pieces is The Stonemason's Yard (1729, London, the National Gallery) which depicts a humble, working area of the city. Canaletto, however, is better known for his grand scenes of the canals of Venice and the Doge's Palace.
Many of Canaletto's early works, contrary to the custom of the time, were painted 'from nature' (rather than from sketches and studies of the scene taken back to be worked on in the artist's studio). Some of his later works do revert to this custom, hinted at by the tendency for distant figures to be painted as blobs of colour - an effect produced by using a camera obscura, which blurs farther-away objects.
Many of his pictures were sold to Englishmen on their Grand Tour, most notably the merchant Joseph Smith (who was later appointed British Consul in Venice in 1744). It was Smith who acted as an agent for Canaletto, helping him to sell his paintings to other Englishmen. In the 1740s Canaletto's market was disrupted when the War of the Austrian Succession led to a reduction in the number of British visitors to Venice. Smith also arranged for the publication of a series of etchings of capriccios, but the returns were not high enough, and in 1746 Canaletto moved to London, to be closer to his market.
He remained in England until 1755, producing views of London and of his patrons' castles and houses. Overall this period was not satisfactory, partly due to dissatisfaction with the declining quality of Canaletto's work. Canaletto's work began to suffer from repetitiveness, losing its traditional fluidity, and became mechanical to the point that the English art critic George Vertue suggested that the man painting under the name 'Canaletto' was an imposter. Canaletto gave public demostrations of his work to refute this claim; however, his reputation never fully recovered in his lifetime.
After his return to Venice Canaletto was elected to the Venetian Academy in 1763. He continued to paint until his death in 1768. In his later years he often worked from old sketches, but he sometimes produced surprising new compostions. He was willing to make subtle alternations to topography for artistic effect.
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Giovanni Antonio Canal detto CANALETTO (Venezia 1697 – 1768)
|
Better known as Canaletto, was a Venetian artist famous for his landscapes or vedute of Venice. They served as the equivalent of painted postcards for those able to afford the price. He was a son of a painter Bernardo Canal, hence his nickname Canaletto.
He served his apprenticeship with his father and his brother, and began his career as a theatrical scene painter, which was his father's occupation. Canaletto was inspired by the Roman vedutista Giovanni Paolo Pannini and began painting in his famous topographical style after a visit to Rome in 1719. His first known signed and dated work is Architectural Capriccio (1723, Milan, in a private collection). One of his best pieces is The Stonemason's Yard (1729, London, the National Gallery) which depicts a humble, working area of the city. Canaletto, however, is better known for his grand scenes of the canals of Venice and the Doge's Palace.
Many of Canaletto's early works, contrary to the custom of the time, were painted 'from nature' (rather than from sketches and studies of the scene taken back to be worked on in the artist's studio). Some of his later works do revert to this custom, hinted at by the tendency for distant figures to be painted as blobs of colour - an effect produced by using a camera obscura, which blurs farther-away objects.
Many of his pictures were sold to Englishmen on their Grand Tour, most notably the merchant Joseph Smith (who was later appointed British Consul in Venice in 1744). It was Smith who acted as an agent for Canaletto, helping him to sell his paintings to other Englishmen. In the 1740s Canaletto's market was disrupted when the War of the Austrian Succession led to a reduction in the number of British visitors to Venice. Smith also arranged for the publication of a series of etchings of capriccios, but the returns were not high enough, and in 1746 Canaletto moved to London, to be closer to his market.
He remained in England until 1755, producing views of London and of his patrons' castles and houses. Overall this period was not satisfactory, partly due to dissatisfaction with the declining quality of Canaletto's work. Canaletto's work began to suffer from repetitiveness, losing its traditional fluidity, and became mechanical to the point that the English art critic George Vertue suggested that the man painting under the name 'Canaletto' was an imposter. Canaletto gave public demostrations of his work to refute this claim; however, his reputation never fully recovered in his lifetime.
After his return to Venice Canaletto was elected to the Venetian Academy in 1763. He continued to paint until his death in 1768. In his later years he often worked from old sketches, but he sometimes produced surprising new compostions. He was willing to make subtle alternations to topography for artistic effect.
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