Capriccio of a Harbor
c. 1760/1770
Artist, Venetian, 1712 - 1793
Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on canvas
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 122 x 178 cm (48 1/16 x 70 1/16 in.)
framed: 154.9 x 209.6 cm (61 x 82 1/2 in.) -
Accession
1943.4.50
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Possibly (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 31 May 1902, no. 101).[1] (Martin Colnaghi [1821-1908], London).[2] George A. Hearn [1835-1913], New York; (his sale, American Art Galleries, New York, 25 February-4 March 1918, no. 446); purchased by (O. Bernet).[3] Emil Winter, Pittsburgh; (his sale, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 15-17 January 1942, no. 442); purchased by (Julius H. Weitzner [1896-1986], New York).[4] (Schaeffer Galleries, New York);[5] purchased 1942 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[6] gift 1943 to NGA.
[1] "Coast scene, with ruined buildings and bridges, boats and figures in the foreground." The dimensions, 48 x 70 in., match the National Gallery's painting exactly, but this general description could also apply to a lost pendant or even another version. A marginal notation in the Knoedler fiche copy of the catalogue gives the buyer as "Mostyn." Algernon Graves, Art Sales from Early in the Eighteenth Century to Early in the Twentieth Century, 3 vols., London, 1918-1921: 1:383, gives the buyer as "Lawson" and lists an incorrect sale date.
[2] According to the Hearn sale catalogue.
[3] A marginal notation in the NGA copy of the Hearn catalogue lists Bernet as "agent," perhaps for Winter.
[4] Art Prices Current, n.s. 20 (1941-1942): no. 1130.
[5] The original prospectus in the NGA curatorial files bears the Schaeffer Galleries' stamp. There is a reference to a Guardi Capriccio, no. 675, in the Schaeffer Gallery Records at the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, but no stock card.
[6] See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/437.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1946
Recent Additions to the Kress Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1946, no. 717.
1994
The Glory of Venice: Art in the Eighteenth Century, Royal Academy of Arts, London; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Museo del Settecento Veneziano - Ca'Rezzonico, Venice, 1994-1995, not in cat. (shown only in Washington in 1995).
2011
Shared Treasures: The Legacy of Samuel Kress, Allentown Art Museum, 2011-2012, no catalogue.
Bibliography
1945
Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945 (reprinted 1947, 1949): 149, repro., as A Seaport and Classic Ruins in Italy.
1952
Frankfurter, Alfred M. "Interpreting Masterpieces: Twenty-four Paintings from the Kress Collection." Art News Annual 16 (1952): 171-172, pl. 125.
1959
Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 258, repro., as A Seaport and Classic Ruins in Italy.
1960
Pallucchini 1960, 240-241, fig. 627.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 64, as A Seaport and Classic Ruins in Italy.
Pallucchini, Rodolfo. "Note alla mostra dei Guardi." Arte Veneta 19 (1965): 228, 231.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 56, repro., as A Seaport and Classic Ruins in Italy.
1970
Hannegan, Barry. In Painting in Italy in the Eighteenth Century: Rococo to Romanticism. Exh. cat. Art Institute of Chicago; Minneapolis Institute of Arts; Toledo Museum of Art. Chicago, 1970: 68.
1972
Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1972: 97.
1973
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XVI-XVIII Century. London, 1973: 170-171, fig. 327.
Morassi, Antonio. Guardi: Antonio e Francesco Guardi. 2 vols. Venice, 1973-1975: 1:277, 462, no. 817; 2:fig. 745.
1974
Rossi Bortolatto, Luigina. L'opera completa di Francesco Guardi. Milan, 1974: 97, no. 127, repro. and color pl. 4.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 166, repro., as A Seaport and Classic Ruins in Italy.
Morassi, Antonio. Tutti i disegni di Antonio, Francesco e Giacomo Guardi. Venice, 1975: 184.
1979
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:241-242; 2:pl. 162, as A Seaport and Calssic Ruins in Italy.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 348, no. 485, color repro., as A Seaport and Classic Ruins in Italy.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 193, repro., as A Seaport and Classic Ruins in Italy.
1987
Succi, Dario, et al. Guardi, metamorfosi dell'imagine. Exh. cat. Castello di Gorizia, Venice, 1987: 57, 81, n. 18, fig. 65.
1990
Bean, Jacob, and William Griswold. Eighteenth-Century Italian Drawings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1990: 131-132.
1993
Succi, Dario. Francesco Guardi. Milan, 1993: 80, fig. 76, 82.
1996
De Grazia, Diane, and Eric Garberson, with Edgar Peters Bowron, Peter M. Lukehart, and Mitchell Merling. Italian Paintings of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1996: 134-138, repro. 135.
2012
Percival, Melissa. Fragonard and the Fantasy Figure: Painting the Imagination. Burlington, Vt., 2012: xiv, 220, fig. 6.10.
Wikidata ID
Q20178180