Venetian School, circa 1807

With Cohen & Sons, London; 

By whom sold anonymously, London, Sotheby's, 24 June 1970, lot 49 (as Giuseppe Bernardino Bison), for £5,200;

Where acquired by Georges Bernier (1911–2001), Paris, France;

With Trafalgar Galleries, London, by August 1978;

Thence by descent to the present owner.

European paintings, American paintings, and Russian icons in the collection of the Putnam Foundation, San Diego 1991, p. 10, reproduced (as Giacomo Guardi);

L. Salerno, I Pittori di Vedute in Italia. 1580–1830, Rome 1991, p. 366, no. 111.2, reproduced (as Giacomo Guardi);

F. Pedrocco, Visions of Venice: paintings of the 18th century, London 2002, p. 220–21, reproduced in colour on pp. 14 and 222–23 (as Giacomo Guardi).

San Diego, Timken Museum of Art, on long-term loan, 1987–2001.

By the end of the eighteenth century, the free republic of Venice was experiencing economic and political travail. Austria, Venice's neighbour to the north, was a constant threat and as Napoleon rose to power, French armies swept south. In 1797, a French provisional government was established and in exchange for Austrian concessions in the north, the city of Venice came under Austrian rule, bringing to close eleven hundred years of independence. A decade after the defeat of the Venetians, in 1807, Napoleon journeyed from Milan to Venice for the anniversary celebrations of his coronation as well as those of his most recent victory at Austerlitz, which were to take place on 2 December. He was accompanied by his stepson, Prince Eugene Beauharnais, the Viceroy of Italy, Marshall Joachim Murat, Marshall Louis-Alexandre Berthier and Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, 1st Prince of Benevento. The King and Queen of Bavaria, Princess Charlotte and Princess Eliza of Lucca joined the party en route. The group arrived in Venice on the afternoon of 29 November 1807, in a triumphal procession that disembarked at the Piazzetta at five o'clock. The royal barge is here depicted on the Grand Canal, between Ca' Pesaro and Le Fabbriche Nuove.

Although this painting has been traditionally described as the work of Giacomo Guardi (1764–1835) (see Literature), the handling is different to that which can be observed in the small number of signed paintings by the artist, who is better known as a draftsman and for his pictures in gouache. This attribution may have come about as a result of the similarities between the buildings in the background of the present composition, which are fine in quality, and those in a painting in a private collection, Bergamo, by Francesco Guardi (1712–1793): Giacomo's father.¹ A number of other Venetian artists working during the early 19^th century portrayed Napoleon's arrival in Venice, such as Vincenzo Chilone (1758–1839), but no such examples compare closely to this painting in style, palette or handling. The attribution of this work therefore remains an enigma.

¹ Oil on canvas, 42 x 86 cm.; A. Morassi, Guardi: I dipinti, Milan 1993, vol. I, p. 415, no. 563, vol. II, reproduced fig. 537.