(Venice active circa 1740–1770)
The Grand Canal, Venice, with the church of Santa Maria della Carità,
oil on canvas, 64.5 x 96 cm, framed

Provenance:
purchased at Galleria Canessa, Milan, circa 1963 (as Michele Marieschi); by inheritance to the present owner

We are grateful to Charles Beddington for confirming the attribution on the basis of a high resolution digital photograph.

The Master of the Langmatt Foundation Views, named after his eponymous works - a group of thirteen views of Venice in the Langmatt Foundation, Baden. It may be possible to identify this anonymous painter with Apollonio Facchinetti, called Domenichini, active in Venice, where he enrolled in the Fraglia in 1757. It is thought likely that he was a pupil of Carlevarijs, Marieschi or perhaps Francesco Albotto, and his works have long been confused with those of Francesco Tironi.

The identification of the anonymous master with Apollonio Domenichini was suggested by Dario Succi (see: D. Succi, Apollonio Domenichini: il Maestro della Fondazione Langmatt, in Da Canaletto a Zuccarelli, exhibition catalogue, Udine 2003, pp. 103-7). Succi discovered his name in the correspondence between the Venetian art dealer Giovanni Maria Sasso and the English minister, Sir John Strange. Working in the 1740s and 1750s, as is clear from topographical details, Domenichini benefited from Canaletto‘s English sojourn, and his vedute proved extremely popular with Grand Tourists.