(Augsburg c. 1600 - Venice 1678) Regatta on the Grand Canal, oil on canvas, 123 x 179 cm, framed

Provenance: European private collection;

In the present work, the German painter Joseph Heintz the Younger, the author of this crowded scene, sought to capture the fleeting moments occurring during this Venetian festival. He was one of the first artists to depict the colourful and vibrant events and he dominated the market for such pictures in Venice from his arrival in 1625, until his death and as such he was an important precussor to the celebrated Luca Carlevarjis and Antonio Canal, il Canaletto.The Regatta on the Grand Canal in Rome, Pallavicini Collection offers an interesting comparison, although the latter picture makes a less splendid and vivid impression, whereas another example of the same subject matter in Venice, private collection (D. D‘Anza, „Appunti sulla produzione festiva di Joseph Heintz il Giovane: opere autografe e di bottega“, fig. 10, p. 13, in AFAT Arte in Friuli Arte a Trieste, 24, 2006, pp. 7-20) features a similarly lively composition. The narrative elements in the present work are typical of the artist; the gondoliers full of masked and plumed figures passing by the palaces under a sky covered with strips of clouds create a magnificent, yet perspectively distorted scenery that is additionally enlivened by the colourful awnings, the crowds of the people and the aristocracy. However, the true protagonists of the composition are the decorated and costumned gondoliers.

Provenance: European private collection; In the present work, the German painter Joseph Heintz the Younger, the author of this crowded scene, sought to capture the fleeting moments occurring during this Venetian festival. He was one of the first artists t