A View of the Canal Grande in Venice looking towards Sant’Eustachio and the Fabbriche Nuove,
oil on canvas, 73 x 116.5 cm, framed

The present painting derives from the composition by Canaletto, dated 1730-35, formerly in the collection of Sir R.G. Harvey, Birmingham (see W.G. Constable/J.G. Links, Canaletto: Giovanni Antonio Canal 1679-1768, 1989, I, plate 50; II, pp. 309-310, no.246). It also closely relates to a Visentini engraving, with some variations on the composition in the boats and figures (see A.Visentini, Prospectus Magni Canalis Venetiarum, 1742, II, plate 5).

The present view shows part of the Grand Canal particularly rich in Baroque and Neo–Palladian buildings. On the right is Domenico Rossi’s (1678-1742) sparkling white façade of 1709-10 for the newly built church of Sant’Eustachio, known as San Stae. Against its far flank is the small Scuola dei Tiraoro e Battiloro (the guild of the gold drawers and beaters) of 1711, and beyond the Palazzo Coccina Giunti Giovannelli is the magnificent Baroque façade of Baldassarre Longhena’s (1596-1682) Ca’ Pesaro, begun in 1652. The painting only hints at the presence of two small houses which separate this from the Palazzo Corner della Regina, reconstructed in 1724-7 by the same Domenico Rossi and clearly intended to rival the Ca’ Pesaro. The view stretches beyond to the Fabbriche Nuove di Rialto.