A View of the Piazza San Marco, Looking East toward the Basilica
Oil on canvas
35 1⁄8 x 58 ¼ inches (89.2 x 148 cm)
Frame 40 x 63 1/4 inches (102.2 x 160.7 cm)
Provenance:
Maurice Segoura Antiquaire, Paris
Purchased from the above in 1996
Private collection

During the 18th century, the arrival of increasing numbers of wealthy tourists brought new energy to Venetian art, as many of these travelers bought paintings to take home as souvenirs. Especially popular was the Venetian veduta, or “view,” of a picturesque area of the city. The Piazza San Marco, the Grand Canal, and the Rialto Bridge were favorite subjects for such paintings. Among the artists who painted these pictures, Antonio Canaletto was the most famous, but the works of some younger contemporaries were also highly sought-after. Among these younger artists was one whose paintings were first recognized in the 20th century as the work of a single hand, but whose name remained unidentified for many years. This anonymous artist became known as the Master of the Langmatt Foundation Views after a series of thirteen Venetian vedute by him that belong to the Langmatt Foundation in Baden, Switzerland. These pictures are characterized by a Canalettesque treatment of details; a slight distortion of perspective that enlarges the foreground; and a palette of cool and neutral colors. The anonymous creator of these paintings was identified some years ago by the art historian Dario Succi as Apollonio Domenichini, a documented member of the Fraglia de’ Pittori, the Venetian painter’s guild. Professor Succi based his deduction on mentions in the correspondence of the 18th-century Venetian antique dealer Giovanni Maria Sasso with one of his English clients. The theory that the Langmatt Master and Apollonio Domenichini are the same person is now accepted by most historians of 18th-century Venetian art.

This view of the Piazza San Marco is among the paintings attributed by Professor Succi to this important rediscovered artist. In a letter discussing the painting written on September 30 1996 to a previous owner, Succi wrote: “This impressive painting . . . can be dated with certainty on the basis of its technical and chromatic characteristics [to] around 1740. It can be attributed in my opinion to Apollonio Domenichini (Venice1715-post 1757), . . . whose name is inscribed in the registers of the Corporation of Venetian Painters for 1757.”

Here we can see the great square spread out before the Basilica of St. Mark, flanked by Renaissance arcades on either side — a magnificent public space that Napoleon would later call “The Drawing Room of Europe.” Groups of figures gather to stroll and talk, while in the distance a performance of street theater has attracted a crowd. It is a charming thought that among the people strolling in the square are surely some of the very Grand Tour visitors who would have bought just such views as this.