English Landscape Capriccio with a Column
c. 1754
Artist, Venetian, 1697 - 1768
West Building Main Floor, Gallery 31
Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on canvas
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 134 x 106.4 cm (52 3/4 x 41 7/8 in.)
framed: 151.8 x 126.4 x 6.4 cm (59 3/4 x 49 3/4 x 2 1/2 in.) -
Accession
1964.2.1
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Probably commissioned by Thomas, 5th baron King [1712-1779], London and Ockham Park, Surrey;[1] by descent at Ockham Park to Peter Malcolm, 4th earl of Lovelace [1905-1964]; (his sale, Sotheby's, London, 13 July 1937, no. 133); purchased by (M. Knoedler & Co., London);[2] purchased 1938 by Philip Hill; Mrs. Philip Hill [later Mrs. Warwick Bryant] until 1959.[3] (Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York); purchased December 1960 by Paul Mellon, Upperville, Virginia;[4] gift 1964 to NGA.
[1] Francis Russell, "A Suffusion of Light", Country Life 187 (14 October 1993): 64, has corrected the traditional provenance of the Lovelace capriccios: "That the most prominently placed of the series-the overmantel-which alone is signed and dated 1754, is dominated by a reminiscence of the chapel at Eton leaves little doubt that the patron was neither the 3rd Lord King, nor his successor the 4th Lord, but their brother Thomas, later the 5th Lord King (1712-1779). He married an heiress and their son was sent to Eton. The original setting of the canvases was thus presumably in their London house, rather than at the family seat at Ockham . . . ." W.G. Constable, Canaletto: Giovanni Antonio Canal, 1697-1768 (2nd edition revised by J. G. Links, reissued with supplement and additional plates, 2 vols., Oxford, 1989: 1:146-147), reported the family tradition that the paintings were acquired with money brought into the family through the marriage in 1734 of Catherine Troye of Brabant to the 5th baron King, great-grandfather of the 8th baron King, 1st earl of Lovelace. The paintings are said to have been commissioned by the 5th baron and his wife, but since one is dated 1754, they must have been bought by either Peter, 3d baron King, who died in that year, or his brother, William, 4th baron King, who lived until 1767. See also Hilda F. Finberg, "The Lovelace Canalettos", The Burlington Magazine 72 (February 1938): 69, n. 1.
[2] Art Prices Current, n.s. 16 (1936-1937): 192, no. 6548.
[3] Canaletto in England, Exh. cat., Guildhall, London 1959, no. 6.
[4] Typed notations from Mellon records by David M. Robb, 14 July 1964, in NGA curatorial files.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1959
Canaletto in England, Guildhall, London, 1959, no. 6.
1964
Extended loan for use by Ambassador David K.E. Bruce, U.S. Embassy residence, London, England, 1964-1969 (on loan to Embassy when given to NGA; lent prior to 1964 by Paul Mellon).
1969
Extended loan to the Ambassador, U.S. Embassy residence, Brussels, Belgium, 1969-1972.
1972
Extended loan to the Ambassador, U.S. Embassy residence, Rome, Italy, 1972-1977.
1989
Canaletto, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1989-1990, no. 76.
1993
Canaletto & England, Birmingham Gas Hall Exhibition Gallery, England, 1993-1994, no. 38, repro., as Capriccio: river landscape with a column, a ruined Roman arch, and reminiscences of England.
2006
Canaletto in England: A Venetian Artist Abroad, 1746-1755, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven; Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, 2006-2007, no. 71, repro.
Bibliography
1938
Finberg, Hilda F. "The Lovelace Canalettos." The Burlington Magazine 72 (February 1938): 68-71.
1962
Constable, William George. Canaletto: Giovanni Antonio Canal, 1697-1768. 2 vols. Oxford, 1962: 1:pl. 87; 2:413, no. 474.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 22, Landscape Capriccio with Column.
1967
Eeles, Adrian. Canaletto. London, 1967: 37, color pl. 43.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 14, repro., as Landscape Capriccio with Colomn.
Puppi, Lionello. The Complete Paintings of Canaletto. Milan, 1968: 117, repro., no. 308.
1972
Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1972: 43.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 52, repro., as Landscape Capriccio with Column.
1976
Constable and Links 1976, 1:pl. 87; 2:446, no. 474.
1977
Links, J. G. Canaletto and His Patrons. London, 1977: 76-77, pl. 114.
1979
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. Washington, 1979: 1:105-106; 2:pl. 71, as Landscape Capriccio with Column.
1982
Links, J. G. Canaletto. Oxford, 1982: 192, pl. 186.
1985
Corboz, André. Canaletto: Una Venezia immaginaria. Catalogue compiled by Anna Tortorelo. 2 vols. Milan, 1985: 2:704, repro., no. P 368.
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 73, repro.
1989
Baetjer, Katharine, and J. G. Links. Canaletto. Exh. cat. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1989: 256-259, no. 76.
Constable, W. G. Canaletto: Giovanni Antonio Canal, 1697-1768. 2nd edition revised by J. G. Links, reissued with supplement and additional plates. 2 vols. Oxford, 1989: 1:pl. 87; 2:146-147, 446, no. 474.
1993
Liversidge, Michael, and Jane Farrington. Canaletto & England. Exh. cat. Birmingham Gas Hall Exhibition Gallery, Birmingham, 1993: 26, 27, 99, color repro. 99.
Ross, Nicholas. Canaletto. London, 1993: 132, repro., as Capriccio: River Landscape with a Column and a Ruined Roman Arch and Reminiscences of England.
Russell, Francis. "A Suffusion of Light." Country Life 187 (14 October 1993): 64.
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: 35-39, color repro. 36.
Wikidata ID
Q19660460