Venice, Piazza San Marco, Looking Towards the Cathedral, Follower of Francesco Guardi; oil painting; Italy; 19th century

Piazza San Marco in Venice, scattered with people, looking towards the basilica and the campanile on the right hand side, with small tents in the foreground.

Given by Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence, Bart.

Given by Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence, Bart., 1901
Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence (1837-1914) was born in London, the son of William Lawrence, Alderman. He was educated at University College School, University College London (BA, 1861 and LLB with honours). He married Edith Jane Durning Smith in 1874, the daughter and co-heiress of politician John Benjamin Smith.
During 1867, Durning-Lawrence was called to Middle Temple and also was a member of the Metropolitan Board of Works for a short time, as well as a Lieutenant for the City of London and a Justice of the Peace in Berkshire. He was elected as Liberal Unionist member of Parliament for Truro in 1895; a position he held until 1906. Durning-Lawrence's main interest was literature, especially the Bacon/ Shakespeare controversy; he was the author of Bacon is Shakespeare (1910) and The Shakespeare Myth (1912). In 1901 he gave to the V&A thirteen paintings, museum numbers 620 to 633-1901.

Historical significance: The present painting imitates a very popular composition in both Canaletto and Francesco Guardi's outputs, the two greatest 'vedutisti' of 18th-century Venice. It shows the Piazza San Marco in Venice looking towards the basilica with the campanile on the right hand-side. Small figures are depicted all over the Piazza and two tents are set in the foreground.
The city of Venice, with its introspective character, its particular urban organisation around the lagoon and its elaborate architectural settings, was a great source of inspiration for native and foreigner painters and appears already represented in such early paintings as Gentile Bellini's Procession of the Cross, Galleria dell'Accademia, Venice (end of the 15th century). Perhaps stimulated by its extraordinary configuration, the city of Venice particularly suited the 'veduta', a genre painting that became significantly popular during the 18th century. For instance the Basilica San Marco of Byzantine architecture was later completed with a Gothic addition while the campanile, erected on pre-existing Roman foundations took on its definitive appearance between 1511 and 1514. As for the square, it has always been a very important public place in Venice where most of the public life takes place. Venetians went there for a walk, business or friendly meeting or simply to seat at the cafés which particularly developed during the 18th century. In that respect, 'vedute' paintings not only recorded the appearance of the city but also documented the Venetian society.
The compositional idea of the present work relates to such paintings as Guardi's Venice: Piazza San Marco in The National Gallery, London and in Lorenzelli Gallery, Bergamo, however the campanile appears much more elongated and the square looks much narrower than it is usually represented. The little tents, which reproduced a prototype commonly found in Lucas Carlevaris' paintings, form a small market that witnesses another activity of the Piazza. At the feet of the campanile, one can distinguish another construction built to shelter plays of the 'Commedia dell'Arte' with the representation of the stories of Harlequin and Columbine among others.
The colour scheme, dominated by a golden sunlight and the sky's white and blue hues, provides the picture with a warm brightness enhanced by the play of light and shade projected against the buildings. The wide atmospheric sky recalls Guardi's typical emphasis on the pictorial rendering of light. The painter's manner imitates Guardi's free brushwork but his brushstroke's thickness and the wrong proportion of the perspective betrays a 19th-century imitation. Francesco Guardi has been much imitated in his lifetime and for more than a century after his death. His compositions were extremely popular and provided great models to copy.

A 'veduta' is a painted, drawn or engraved composition representing a landscape or town view that is largely topographical in conception and was generally displayed as wall schemes for interior decoration. This genre painting became particularly popular in Venice during the era of the Grand Tour of Europe, stimulated by the need of recording topographical settings. Painters who produced 'vedute' were known as 'vedutisti' and benefited from the technical support of the 'camera obscura', a box with a small hole used as an optical device to improve the representation of the natural world, especially the perspective. Many of the vedutisti also produced 'capricci' i.e. compositions that combine imaginary and realistic architectural features in a picturesque setting. The genre declined during the early part of the next century and was gradually transformed by the Romanticism into a vehicle for emotional responses to the visible world. The 'veduta' was however eventually supplanted by the invention of photography in the 19th century.

Francesco Guardi (1712-1793) was born in Venice and specialised in little views of the city. He was a collaborator of Canaletto when he was in his 40s and became later very popular running a large studio of his own. He trained both his younger brother Nicolò and his son Giacomo, whose work is well known and who imitated his father's style.

This painting is a 19th-century imitation of a popular composition of the 18th century Venetian school, especially Canaletto and Francesco Guardi who produced many versions of the identical view showing the Piazza San Marco in Venice, scattered with people, with the Basilica in the background and the campanile on the right hand -side.

624-1901