Guardi, Canaletto, Carlevarijs, Bellotto, Jacopo and Michele Marieschi are only a few of the names of the painters who have handed down the charm of 18th Century Venice to us. their paintings enchant us with their plays on perspective; they are works of art which, with their clear and bright colours, return to the eyes of those who behold them the unparalleled light of a city unique in the world. And it is the fashion of "vedute" (views), which explodes in Venice during the 18th Century, which takes the form of an artistic "must" in the salons of every rich and noble lord of Europe. the serenissima (the Venetian Republic) is extraordinary in its artistic manifestations, with its palaces, squares, canals, markets, gondolas, celebrations and its churches, which, flooded with light, render the city dazzling, bright and joyful, flinging its doors wide open to its golden Century. In short, Venice incarnates the myth of the European "grand tour". And so, we have Canaletto, Guardi and Marieschi, true stars of the genre, who immortalize the face and the extraordinary atmosphere of Venice, its daily life and its festivals. their vedute are not only authentic reproductions of reality, but also the result of a personal vision made alive by a virtuous technique with few precedents. their Venice is a beautiful union between the very particular "forma urbis" and the social reality of the city.
Aste Bolaffi is pleased to present at the upcoming auction a small but refined selection of works dedicated to the famous Venetian "vedutismo". First of all, there will be "Vedute altre prese da i luoghi altre ideate da Antonio Canal" (other views taken from other Places created by Antonio Canal) from 1735 to 1744, a work containing a very rare suite comprised of 31 etchings printed on 18 sheets, depicting glimpses of Venice, mestre and Padua. This album collection was the desire of and commissioned by the British Consul to the Serenissima, Joseph Smith, a great connoisseur and collector, and an important patron of Canaletto, part of whose collection was purchased in 1762 by the English sovereign George III.
Together with the Vedute altre prese will be presented the no less rare Urbis Venetiarum prospectus celebriores, in its first complete edition by Pasquali of 1742. the work, divided into three parts, is comprised by an amazing suite of 38 views by Canaletto, immortalized in the engravings of Antonio Visentini. the latter, to underline their partnership, had a double portrait of both added to the edition. In addition to the engravings reproducing the views by Canaletto also commissioned by Smith, ten views of the grand Canal and two of the Pier, and finally ten "campi" (squares) of Venice and two depictions of the Piazza San Marco will also be presented at auction. Also, very rare is the work of michele marieschi, the Magnificentiores selectioresque Urbis Venetiarum prospectus of 1741, an informational album dedicated in 21 engravings to the "magnificences" of Venice. Although he bases himself on Canaletto's principles, marieschi soon acquires his own individual artistic physiognomy, with whims and fantasies between inlets of lakes, rivers, lagoons, wooded and rocky landscapes, dotted with castles, ruins, rustic houses or distant villages lost in a rosy atmosphere. It is precisely the works of these famous 18th-Century "vedutisti" which have forever immortalized the image of the Serenissima by depicting the unique splendour of the City on the Lagoon.

THE AUCTION