Antonio Joli

(Modena 1700–1777 Naples)
Saint Mark’s Basin with San Giorgio Maggiore and the Giudecca, Venice,
oil on canvas, 55.5 x 97 cm, framed

Provenance:
sale, Sotheby’s, London, 16 April 1980, lot 18;
Cortinovis collection, Bologna (according to Manzelli);
sale, Finarte, Milan, 12 June 1989, lot 142;
with Galleria Salamon, Milan;
Private collection, United Kingdom;
where acquired by the present owner

Exhibited:
London, Lampronti Gallery, The Magical Light of Venice. Eighteenth Century View Paintings, 30 November 2017 – 15 January 2018

Literature:
G. L. Marini (ed.), Catalogo Bolaffi della pittura italiana del ‘600 e del ‘700, vol. 3, Turin 1980, p. 90;
R. Middione, Antonio Joli, Soncino 1995, pp. 66-67, no. 11;
M. Manzelli, Antonio Joli: opera pittorica, Venice 1999, p. 102, no. V.12 and fig. 74;
R. Toledano, Antonio Joli: Modena 1700–1777 Napoli, Turin 2006, p. 202, no. V.VII;
Marcella di Martino (ed.), The Magical Light of Venice. Eighteenth Century View Paintings, exhibition catalogue, Florence 2017, pp. 22-23

The Bacino di San Marco (Saint Mark’s Basin) is represented in the present painting as seen from the Riva degli Schiavoni with the island and church of San Giorgio on the left, and opposite, the island of the Giudecca still showing at its extremity the city walls and the two towers that were demolished in the nineteenth century and the church of Giovanni Battista also demolished, while further right are the church of Santa Maria della Presentazione, called delle Zitelle, and beyond, Palladio’s basilica of the Redentore. A clear light warms the whole composition conferring a calm atmosphere throughout; every element, from the lapping water to the little figures that animate the foreground shipping, is minutely rendered with all the attention to detail typical of Antonio Joli’s painting.

Ralph Toledano dates this painting to the artist’s first Venetian sojourn between 1732 and 1742, while previously this view painting had been thought a product of Joli’s maturity, made after his return from abroad.

Joli was an itinerant artist whose career was punctuated by successes in numerous European courts as well as in Italy. His earliest training was with Raffaello Rinaldi, called il Menia in Modena; he soon moved to Rome where he entered into contact with Giovanni Paolo Panini and refined his painting style, specialising in perspective and ruin painting, as well as making ephemeral apparatus for celebrations and theatrical stage sets. During the 1730s he undertook his long Venetian sojourn, where in addition to dedicating himself to view painting he also continued his activity as a stage set designer, a practice he continued throughout his career and which contributed to his international prestige. During the 1740s he began his travels abroad: first he journeyed to Germany and later to England where Canaletto was also present while from 1749 he was at the Spanish court. Returning to Italy during the following decade, he was alternately in Venice, Rome and Naples ultimately establishing himself definitively in the latter city during the last years of his life. Here he became the stage set designer of the Teatro di San Carlo and he continued to make view paintings to satisfy the large demand from collectors, and especially of those engaged in the Grand Tour.