Lot 6: Attributed to Bernardo Canal (Venice 1674-1744) Cannaregio with the Ponte Tre Archi and Palazzo Valier, Venice unframed

Cannaregio with the Ponte Tre Archi and Palazzo Valier, Venice
oil on canvas
72 x 110.5cm (28 3/8 x 43 1/2in).
unframed

PROVENANCE:
Art market, Rome, 1955, whence acquired by the present owner's family and thence by descent

The attribution to Bernardo Canal was made by Dario Succi in a written communication to the present owner, dated 7 January, 2003. Succi dates the painting to the period of the artist's activity in Venice between 1738 and 1740.

In the present work, the artist depicts a relatively rare veduta in the Venetian 18th Century repertoire; an engraving, published by Domenico Lovisa in 1717 in his Il Gran Teatro di Venezia, shows various compositional similarities and could have served as reference for this historically very interesting view. Whereas the bridge, built in 1688 following a project by the architect Andrea Tirali, still exists, the Palazzo Valier, a remarkable fourteenth century building with a façade embellished by fourteen windows divided by columns, was damaged by a fire and subsequently demolished between 1789 and 1805.