Christie's put up for auction of Old Masters July 8, 2014 by Francesco Guardi landscape "Venice, Gulf of San Marco, the Doge's Palace and the Piazzetta" 8-10 million pounds. Painting will bring the exhibition in Moscow on April

Francesco Guardi Venice Bay
San Marco, the Doge's Palace and the Piazzetta
oil on canvas. 69,5 × 102
Christie's. 8.07.2014
Estimate: 8-10 million pounds
Source : Press Release Christie's

Auction house Christie's evening auction puts on "The Art of Old Masters and British Paintings " July 8, 2014 landscape brushes Francesco Guardi " Venice Bay San Marco, the Doge's Palace and the Piazzetta "( 1712-1793 ) from the collection of Baron Henri de Rothschild . Work will be exhibited for the first time in the last century (estimate 8-10 million pounds). Landscape is made at the peak of his creative career of the artist and depicts one of the most famous views of Venice, in the center of which is the Doge's Palace .

painting , originating from the collection of Earl of Shaftesbury , was acquired by James Baron Edouard de - Rothschild (1844-1881) , after which the meeting was in his daughter's Jean- Sophie Henriette Baroness Leonino (1875-1929) , and then her brother Baron Henry James Charles Nathan de Rothschild (1872-1947) , from which was inherited by the present owners . The last time the painting was exhibited in 1954 at the exhibition of Venetian painting , held in Brussels Palace of Fine Arts . Now the picture go on a world exhibition tour , which begins in Paris on March 3-4 , continue in Moscow ( April 12-13 ) , New York ( May 2-6 ) , Hong Kong ( May 22-26 ) and will be completed in London (5 -8 July ).

work in Russia Francesco Guardi included in museum collections of the State Hermitage , the Pushkin Museum. Pushkin, they were stored in many pre-revolutionary collections. The upcoming auction sale will provide international private collectors and institutions rare opportunity to acquire a job , which is considered one of the best films Guardi . It is expected to become the most important work of the artist , ever goes up for auction .

Georgina Vilzenah , director of the department of art of the Old Masters and British painting , Christie's London : "We are pleased to present this exceptional landscape brushes Francesco Guardi at a time when his work is so in demand in the market. Significant exhibitions that took place in 2012-2013, including exhibitions at the Museum Jacquemart - André in Paris and the Museum Correr in Venice, were devoted tercentenary of the birth of the artist. The impressive result achieved on the basis of Christie's sale of the landscape Canaletto " Like, Venice , view from the Piazza San Marco " in July 2013 for 8.46 million pounds in the evaluation of 4-6 million pounds and the interest shown by collectors from the web around the world , talking about incessant demand for significant ongoing. Painting " Venice, St. Mark's Basin , Piazzetta and the Doge's Palace " from the collection of Baron Henri de Rothschild - a striking example of this glorious tradition of chanting poetic creativity Guardi Venice ».

Sealed on canvas view - this bay of San Marco, which is about halfway to the island of San Giorgio Maggiore . We see a part of the mint building , designed by Jacopo Sansovino Library Marciana towering campanile her Cathedral of San Marco , the columns of St. Mark and St Theodore , the clock tower , the Cathedral of St. Mark, the Doge's Palace , which during Guardi remained the center of the Government of the Republic of Venice , Straw bridge and prison building Carceri , who along with two small buildings and palaces are on the waterfront Schiavoni. Judging by the shadows cast by buildings , while the picture is nearing noon .

Guardi was not the first artist to depict Venice from the bay . One of the earlier examples of landscape is depicted in the background located in the collection of the Museum of Oxford Ashmole paintings by Giorgione "Reading Madonna ." Guardi also could not know of similar landscapes brush his great predecessors : Vanvitelli , Canaletto and Marieschi . However , for example, in the works of Canaletto preferred to write the building for more oblique angle , as in other cases, and he did Guardi . From the outset of his career vedutista Guardi knew potential experiments with frontal views. It is believed that one of the first species to the bay of San Marco with the autograph of the artist is one of the English travelers sold at the end of the 1750s paintings, is also now in a private collection in New York . Following the New York followed written in the 1760s landscape, adorning the walls of the estate today Uoddesdon . It is the same kind of shows because of the Gulf , resulting panorama widened .

Next time Guardi returned to the image of this species in a series of works created after 1770 and today considered the most characteristic examples of his mature work . To this series belongs paintings are in the collections of today the Paris Museum Nissim de Camondo , Boston Museum Isabella Stewart Garner , as well as the Lisbon Gulbenkian Museum . Manner light image in the picture from the last meeting is typical for the New York landscape , as well as several others not such large-scale works. There is only one job , located in the Philadelphia meeting at which the above-mentioned buildings depicted in the morning light . Except for the particular time of day , this pattern can be considered a direct development of a slightly altered the composition of the New York landscape .

Describing this picture, compiler of the catalog raisonné of works - Guardi Antonio Morassi talked about " the hot light , iridescent pink, green and blue tones in a bizarre game of colors . " Morassi dates work around 1780 , basing its assessment on stylistic analysis , as well as specified in the attached to the subframe label named Earl of Shaftesbury . It is known that Anthony Ashley Cooper, 5th Earl of Shaftesbury ( 1761-1811 ) visited Rome twice - in 1782 and 1784 respectively. It is possible that during one of these trips he visited Venice . However, it should be noted that this work was not among the 57 lots was held May 15, 1852 auction Christie's, which is on the 6th Earl of Shaftesbury set inherited from his late brother's legacy .

Baron James Edward de Rothschild (1844-1881) was, like many other members of this family , a prominent collector. From the picture it was hereditary family members. Most often, the artistic taste of the representatives of the Rothschild family extended to outstanding examples of the golden age of Dutch painting , portraits by British artists and antique French furniture items . However, another admirer of creativity Guardi of Rothschild was Baron Ferdinand, in 1876 bought a couple of his paintings adorning the walls of the estate today Uoddesdon .

Source : press release Christie's