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Dimensions: measurements note 25 5/8 by 33 7/8 in.; 65.1 by 86 cm.
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Provenance: James Harris (1709-1780);
Thence by descent to his son, James Harris, 1st Earl of Malmesbury, Heron Court, Christchurch, Hants., and thence by descent in the family;
William James Harris, 6th Earl of Malmesbury;
By whom sold, Christie's, London, December 13, 1985, lot 7 (as Attributed to Bellotto);
With Harari & Johns, Ltd., London;
From whom purchased by the present owners in 1987.
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Literature: S. Kozakiewicz, Bernardo Bellotto, London 1972, vol. II, p. 437, cat. no. Z 193 (as not by Bellotto, based on a photograph in the Witt photo archive).
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Notes: PROPERTY OF GORDON GETTY
Perhaps no other area of Venetian vedute scholarship has occasioned more interest and discussion than the work of the young Bernardo Bellotto. In marked contrast to his later pictures, highly individual and distinctly conceived, and depicting foreign capitals? Dresden, Warsaw, Vienna and other Northern European cities? the artist's earliest paintings were of his native Venice, and produced under the influence, and, at first at least, under the direction of his uncle Giovanni Antonio Canal, called Canaletto. The high quality of even the very young Bellotto's output has made attributions at times difficult, with pictures by him being attributed to Canaletto, or other artists.υ1 However, recent archival work as well as a slowly increased awareness of Bellotto's own "signature" details, even in the most Canalettoesque of his works, have formed a more full and robust picture of the artist's earliest style. The present View of the Grand Canal with the Rialto Bridge is a key work in the understanding of the oeuvre of the young Bellotto, and demonstrates many of the signature details of his style, perceptible even in his earliest paintings. While the young artist had quickly absorbed, and, for the most part, mastered his uncle's impressive skills of perspective, coloration and effects of light, his artistic temperament asserted itself from very early on and is discernible even when his compositions adhere closely to a Canaletto prototype. In the present canvas, there are subtle examples of these which confirm Bellotto's authorship. Bellotto's idiosyncratic use of black, for example, is evident, in the expression of architectural details?windows, pilasters, roof tiles?and in boats and figures. The summary description of the waves in the water is also different than Canaletto's; elongated and more periodic, while Canaletto's are more varied. The interest in strong contrast in shade and dark is also seen, as is Bellotto's typical treatment of cloud formations, much less fluffy than Canaletto's and more hard edged.υ2 Perhaps most telling, however, is the overall palette and tonality of the View of the Grand Canal with the Rialto Bridge; rather than Canaletto's sunny and bright colors, it is painted in the flinty, wintery blue tones that would remain a constant throughout Bellotto's career. While these stylistic elements are evident, it is the exceptional provenance of the present painting that is more significant for the chronology of Bellotto's early work. In an addendum to a manuscript "Account of My Pictures" compiled in 1739, James Harris (1709-1780), the celebrated philosopher and politician, noted that he had recently added to his collection: Four Views of Venice?the two larger by Marieschi... the two lesser by Antonio Bellotti (sic), one representing the Custom house, the other the Rialto. The two first cost 20 guineas, ye two last ten. They were painted all at Venice & imported at my Request by Mυr. Wυm. Hayter of London, Merc.υt 1743.υ3 This mention of Bellotto, garbled though it is, is the first known documentary reference to the artist with which an identifiable painting can be securely connected, and shows that by this date, the artist was selling to an international clientele, under his own name (albeit misunderstood by the client who apparently confused his Christian name with that of his more famous uncle).υ4 Indeed the fact that the two views were purchased together with two larger paintings by Marieschi, who had just died that year and was an artist of considerable fame, is indicative of Belloto's burgeoning reputation, as is the reasonably good price that he got for them.υ5 These two "Bellotti" were then inherited by Harris' son, the 1υst Earl of Malmesbury and then descended in the family, rarely seen, until they were both offered for public sale separately, the present canvas in 1985 (see Provenance), and its pendant just a few months later in 1986.υ6 They were soon purchased thereafter by the present owners, thus providing an unbroken and well-documented provenance almost from the moment they left the studio of the painter until the present day. Harris' manuscript note sadly does not allow for a precise dating of the present canvas, but does give a date of 1743 ante-quem for their production, and stylistically this View of the Grand Canal with the Rialto Bridge would seem to be in accord with other works of this period, circa 1740. Like many of Bellotto's earliest works, the present painting finds its source in a composition by Canaletto. A quintessential view of the city, this bend in the Grand Canal just before the Rialto Bridge was painted by Canaletto from the beginning of his career, as early as 1725. It depicts from left, the corner of the Palazzo Civran, which forms a solid, hard edge to the composition at left. Next to it is the Fondaco dei Tedeschi, and just to the right is the Rialto Bridge, the main focus of the composition. Next to that is the Palazzo dei Camerlenghi (a sort of treasury office for the republic) and then a bit further the open space of the Naranzeria and Erberia (the fruits and greens markets) with the Fabbriche Nuove beyond. There are a few cargo boats tied up at the side of the canal, and a few figures are standing in the now mostly vacant market piazze. It is most likely that Bellotto would have based it (as with its pendant) on the canvas that Canaletto had painted for Consul Joseph Smith, his most important patron.υ7 Bellotto's choice of one of Smith's pictures on which to base the composition itself is indicative of the young painter's future ambitions and his own attempts to rival and perhaps surpass his uncle. We are grateful to Bozena Anna Kowalczyk for confirming the attribution of the present painting to Bellotto. She has requested that it be loaned to the exhibition Canaletto and Bellotto: Two Masters of the Venetian View Painting Compared, to be held at Palazzo Bricherasio, Turin, March 13- June 15, 2008. 1 Many of the art historians who understood the field best had trouble distinguishing between the works of the two artists, or were hesitant in attributing Venetian views to Bellotto on stylistic grounds. For a full and reasoned discussion of the subject, please see C. Beddington, Bernardo Bellotto and his circle in Italy. Part I: not Canaletto but Bellotto, Burlington Magazine, no. 1219, vol, CXLVI, pp. 665-674.
2 Beddington (op. cit. p. 667) aptly and usefully describes Bellotto's clouds as resembling "icing sugar."
3 Cf. F. Russell, "Patterns of Patronage," in Canaletto in England, 2006, p. 40.
4 A group of four paintings by Bellotto were acquired a few years earlier in November 1740 for Marshall van den Schulenberg. These are now lost or unrecognized, although B.A. Kowalczyk hypothesizes that two of these pictures depicting views of the Piazetta may be the pair formerly in the Spitzer collection, Paris, now in a private collection (see Bernardo Bellotto and the Capitals of Europe, exhibition catalogue, Milan 2001, pp. 5-6, illus. figs. 2-3).
5 Another magnificent painting by Marieschi of the Bacino di San Marco which has remained in the family was purchased by Harris at the same time, but was given then to Canaletto himself, thus underlining the difficulties that even informed contemporaries had in distinguishing between the various vedutisti then active (see B.A. Kowalczyk, Canaletto: il trionfo della veduta, Milano 2005, pp. 144-146, cat. no. 31).
6 Venice, Entrance to the Grand Canal, looking West, with the Dogana; Sale: Christie's, London, April 11, 1986, lot 57 (as Attributed to Bellotto).
7 Now in the Royal Collection, see Constable and Links, cat. no. 236.
