Lot 47: FRANCESCO ZANIN

VENICE, A VIEW OF THE CHURCH OF SS. GIOVANNI E PAOLO, LOOKING EAST, WITH THE MONUMENT TO BARTOLOMEO COLLEONI

75.5 by 111 cm.; 29 3/4 by 43 3/4 in.

oil on canvas

F. Magani, Francesco Zanin 'Un "Canaletto" nell'Ottocento, Milan 2007, reproduced pp. 22 and 24.

This is one of the most famous views in Venice and was painted with numerous viewpoint variations by all the famous vedutisti. The view looks across the Rio dei Mendicanti towards the western façade of the largest Dominican church in Venice, SS. Giovanni e Paolo. At the extreme left is the Ponte del Cavallo and in the distance the Scuola di San Marco. To the right of the church is the celebrated equestrian statue of the condottiere Bartolomeo Colleoni by Andrea del Verocchio.

The paintings of Zanin, a native of the Veneto, owe a great deal to those of Giovanni Antonio Canaletto and the present work is no exception; it is taken from a similar viewpoint, though from slightly further back, as Canaletto's depiction of SS. Giovanni e Paolo in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle. (1)

We are grateful to Charles Beddington for proposing the attribution to Francesco Zanin after first-hand inspection.


1. For which see W.G. Constable & J.G. Links, Canaletto, Oxford 1989, vol. I, reproduced plate 58, vol. II, pp. 341-2, no. 308.