Venetian View Painting by Francesco Guardi to Lead Sotheby's Sale

Written by Victoria Butterfield Monday, 27 June 2011 23:32

LONDON.- On 6th July, Sotheby’s London Old Master and British Paintings Evening Sale will offer a selection of newly discovered and important works of exceptional quality and rarity, many of which have remained in private collections for decades. Estimated to reach a total in excess of £31 million, the auction of 73 paintings, led by a monumental Venetian view painting by Francesco Guardi, will feature masterpiece works by Sir Anthony Van Dyck, Correggio, Pieter Brueghel the Younger, Francesco Guardi, John Constable, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Hans Schäufelein and Frans Jansz. Post.

Alex Bell, Sotheby’s Co-Chairman, Old Master Paintings, Worldwide, said: “It is unprecedented for Sotheby’s to offer in a single sale one of the greatest Venetian view paintings by Franesco Guardi, together with a newly discovered work by one of the key artists of the Italian Renaissance, Correggio, as well as two newly identified paintings by Sir Anthony Van Dyck. These works will appeal to collectors seeking museum-quality works of extraordinary provenance.”

Guardi’s Venice, a View of the Rialto Bridge, Looking North, from the Fondamenta del Carbon, estimated at £15-25 million, is the centrepiece of the sale. This dramatic, atmospheric evocation of 18th century Venice measures an impressive 115 by 199.5cm (45¼ by 78½ in) and is one of four works that Guardi painted on this grand scale, all executed in the late 1760s, which together constitute the pinnacle of his output as a painter of vedute. Generally considered to be Guardi’s greatest works, they are the first and fullest expression of the artist’s mature style. The oil on canvas has an exceptional provenance, having been sold just once since it was first acquired in Venice in 1768 by the English Grand Tourist, Chaloner Arcedeckne and then passed by inheritance from Arcedeckne until 1891. Throughout its existence, the painting has almost always hung in private. It has been on loan for a short period recently to the Iveagh Bequest at Kenwood House in London, but before that, has only been on show twice in its long history.

Offered at auction for the first time is an important, newly discovered work by Antonio Allegri, better known as Correggio, one of the greatest and most influential figures of the Italian High Renaissance. Executed circa 1514-15, the oil on panel Madonna and child with the infant Saint John the Baptist, estimated at £2-3 million, provides a profound insight into the development of the young artist. It sheds new light on the extent to which Correggio was prepared to experiment with form and design and demonstrates a stylistic link between his formative years and his more mature work.

Sotheby’s is also delighted to offer for sale two newly discovered works by Sir Anthony Van Dyck. The great Flemish master’s Portrait of a Carmelite monk, head and shoulders, circa 1617-20 has descended through the same family for over 200 years and was previously known as the “Confesseur de Rubens”. The intense and psychologically penetrating portrait is a hitherto unknown work, which Sotheby’s has discovered to have been painted by the youthful Van Dyck during the years he worked in Rubens’ studio. Offered for sale for the first time in more than two centuries, the painting is estimated to sell for £600,000-800,000.

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