A View of a Venetian Lagoon with a Church and a Villa

Follower of ANTONIO CANALETTO

(Second half of the eighteenth century)

A View of a Venetian Lagoon with a Church and a Villa

Oil on canvas: 35 ½ x 29 in. 73 x 95 cm.

Expertises attributing the work toBernardo Bellotto by Rodolfo

Palluchini, Roberto Longhi and Giuliano Briganti

This beautiful capriccio of the Veneto was long attributed to Canaletto’s nephew Bernardo Bellotto. Expertises by Roberto Longhi (1968), Rodolfo Palluchini and Giuliano Briganti (1972) describe the picture in lyrical terms and summarise its Bellotto-esque qualities, dating it to the artist’s early period 1740 – 1750. In an expertise dated 13^th.March 2012 the Bellotto expert Dr.Bozena Anna Kowalczyk has re-attributed the painting to a follower of Canaletto, and dates it to the second half of the eighteenth century. She confirms that the work is based on a composition by Canaletto in the Uffizi, Florence, in landscape (75 x 93cm.) as oppose to upright format, which was also at one time given to Bellotto as a result of the confusion between Canaletto’s late work and that of his nephew.

What all experts agree on, however, is the exceptional execution and atmospheric quality of our work. Palluchini refers to il vigor dell’impasto pittorico, Longhi to Il taglio sicuro della scena…la qualita delle figurette..and Kowalczyk confirms this by stating that the picture stands out for the quality of the dense brush strokes and for a good balance of the atmospheric effects.