Lot 103: GIUSEPPE DE GOBBIS

GIUSEPPE DE GOBBIS ACTIVE IN VENICE BETWEEN 1772 AND 1783 THE PARLATORIO DELLE MONACHE (THE NUNS' PARLOUR) oil on canvas 82 by 114.2 cm.; 32 1/4 by 45 in.

With Brame & Lorenceau, Paris;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 23 March 1973, lot 99, for 4,200 gns. to Eisenbeiss;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 17 July 1981, lot 33, for £6,500;
Anonymous sale, New York, Christie's, 18 January 1983, lot 131, for $15,000;
Rudolf Nureyev (1938-1993) collection;
Sold by Order of The Rudolf Nureyev Dance Foundation and Ballet Promotion Foundation, New York, Christie's, 13 January 1995, lot 116;
Anonymous sale, New York, Christie's, 29 January 1999, lot 20.

The artist Giuseppe de Gobbis was the principal follower of Pietro Longhi and, having won a prize at the Venetian Academy in 1774, he became a successful artist in his own right. His work reflects the theatrical elegance of Venetian society and, like Longhi before him, his scenes of Venetian everyday life are both lively and humorous. De Gobbis was employed by a number of religious fraternities in Venice, among them the church of Saint Barbara (for which he painted The Vision of Saint Anthony of Padua) and the church of the Pietà (for which he painted a Flight into Egypt), but it is secular scenes such as this one that undoubtedly contributed to his success.

This particular composition enjoyed enormous popularity for other versions of it exist, often paired with a scene showing the ridotto: compare the paintings in the collection of the Duke of Bavaria, Badem-Salem, and those formerly in the collection of Dr. Olof Sundin until sold in these Rooms, 15 May 1929, lots 28 and 29.υ1 Pignatti was the first to propose that these works were by Longhi's follower De Gobbis and replicas have since been ascribed to him. This particular scene shows the Parlatorio delle Monache (or Nuns' Parlour) in San Zaccaria on the day in which friends and family could visit the novices, shown here crowding excitedly behind the grated windows. Like in the case of the ridotto, many visitors wore masks and this led to it becoming an obvious location for conspiratorial plots and illicit amorous encounters. This fuelled the imagination of 18th-century Venice: Longhi, Guardi and Tiepolo all painted numerous scenes of the ridotti and both Casanova and Goldoni's writings were inspired by these surroundings. Although the present composition does not relate to a known work by Francesco Guardi or Longhi, its pendant – for one can assume it once formed part of a pair with a scene of the Ridotto – was almost certainly based on a Longhi painting which, in turn, was inspired by Guardi's own earlier prototype.υ2

De Gobbis takes delight in packing his scene with narrative detail: indeed the novices whom the visitors have come to see appear peripheral and are barely involved at all. The visits were social events in which families of different classes could mingle and be entertained: the musical group at the left appear to have been provided for their pleasure (despite not being entirely appropriate for a nuns' parlour). The finely-dressed woman seated in the centre of the composition seems receptive to the advances of the masked gentleman beside her and other masked figures are engaged in furtive conversations; their hoods and masks adding to the general air of mystery.

The painting was once owned by the world-famous ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev and was sold in 1995 by order of his dance foundation, two years after his death. A Foundation was first established by Nureyev in 1975 to promote ballet, whether through the support of individual dancers or companies and performances. Always keen to help young and talented dancers, Nureyev postulated that money should be provided to assist promising dancers living in the territory previously referred to as the Soviet Union to study ballet in the West for one year, on the understanding that they returned home at its conclusion to contribute to the development of dance in their own country. In 1992 a similar foundation was established in the United States: called The Rudolf Nureyev Dance Foundation, its main concern was the perpetuation of Nureyev's memory and the promotion of dance in North America.


1. T. Pignatti, Pietro Longhi, Venice 1968, figs. 454-457 (as 'Giuseppe de Gobbis?').
2. See, for example, the pair of paintings by Francesco Guardi in the Ca' Rezzonico, Venice, in which the composition of the Parlatorio is quite different: A. Morassi, Guardi. I dipinti, Venice 1993, vol. I, pp. 351-52, cat. nos. 232 and 233, reproduced vol. II, figs. 252 and 253.