Oil painting, 'A Gondola' by Luca Carlevarijs, oil on canvas, ca. 1700-1710.

A sketch of a gondola with a felze, or small cabin, for sheltering passengers, viewed from the side. This work is part of an album of fifty-three sketches by Carlevarijs which includes figures and objects he appears to have painted in the open air in preparation for insertion into formal compositions.

Purchased from the funds of Captain H. B. Murray's bequest.

Purchased, 1938

Historical significance: This is a study of a gondola, viewed from the side, with a felze, or removable cabin placed at the centre which served as a shelter for the passengers in winter, at night or in case of wind and rain. The felze was a complex structure richly decorated in wood and metal but only used on the boat when necessary. It had a front opening with a small door, small side windows and a curved roof. This work is is one of Carlevarijs’ studies known as macchiette, the quick sketches he made with daubs of colour. Carlevarijs first drew his subjects on paper, copying them from what he saw in the streets and then transformed them into lively oil sketches, such as this one, which represent a crucial part of his artistic process. Studies such as these would ultimately form part of a Venetian veduta or prospect painting, which is a genre Carlevarijs is generally credited with establishing in the eighteenth century. He populated his vedute with elegantly posed and well-dressed figures, concealing the decline of the Republic under the splendour of the pageants, festivals and regattas he often represented. Carlevarijs' sketches also demonstrate his great influence on Canaletto, whose figures and their arrangement often show a marked debt to the older Master.

This work is part of an album of fifty-three sketches by Carlevarijs which includes figures he appears to have painted in the open air in preparation for insertion into formal compositions. The figures and objects appear frequently and virtually without variations in his paintings between 1707 and 1726 and are closely related to his etchings of 1703 in Le fabriche e vedute di Venetia. Composed of 104 views of Venice, the etchings formed the most complete survey of the fabric of the city ever produced and served as a model for Venetian view painters throughout the 18th century. Gondolas feature in Carlevarijs' work as they represent one of the most elegant and effective means of navigating Venice's waterways in a period when an estimated several thousand gondolas were operating in the lagoon. As Carlevarijs stated in the dedication to Le fabriche, he intended his paintings to 'rendere più facile alla notitzia de Paesi stranieri le Venete Magnificenze' [render more clearly the magnificence of Venice to foreign countries]

An oil- sketch of a gondola with a felze, or removable cabin, which was placed at the centre of the gondola for sheltering passengers and had a small front door, side windows and a curved roof. This work is part of an album of fifty-three sketches by Carlevarijs which includes figures he appears to have painted in the open air in preparation for insertion into formal compositions.

P.29-1938