(Venice 1830–1919 Pula)
The Doge on the Bucintoro near the Riva di Sant’Elena, Venice,
oil on canvas, 50.5 x 73.5 cm, framed

The Bucintoro depicted in the present painting was the state barge of the doges of Venice which was used by the Doge during the ceremony when he symbolically bound the future of Venice to the sea on Ascension day (see D. Succi, Il Bucintoro nella grande arte della Serenissima, Azzano Decimo 2017). The present composition shows a historised view with figures in eighteenth century costume with the Molo beyond with its sequence of monumental buildings: the Palazzo Ducale, the Marciana Library and in the distance Santa Maria della Salute.

The compositional basis for the present work derives from Canaletto’s drawing now conserved in the British Museum, London. This composition was reinterpreted by Francesco Guardi in his painting in the Louvre, Paris, and again in other nineteenth-century derivations. Indeed, Canaletto’s drawing achieved wide diffusion when it was reproduced as an etching. It would appear that Giovanni Grubacs used the engraving to reconstruct this view of Venice: such a practice corresponded with the academic training of the age, where aspiring artists were encouraged to use the art of the past as did others of his Venetian contemporaries who also specialised in view painting among them Roberto Roberti, Vincenzo Chilone, Giuseppe Borsato, Giuseppe Bernardino Bison and the present artist’s father, Carlo Grubacs.

The growing demand for pictorial productions, such as the present painting in this new era was due to a nostalgia for views of Venice that were unequivocally bound to the past fashion for the Grand Tour, and that now served instead as domestic souvenirs.

We are grateful to Fabrizio Magani for his help in cataloguing the present lot.