English Follower of Giovanni Antonio Canal, called Canaletto

George Iain Murray (1931–1996), 10^th Duke of Atholl;

By whom posthumously sold (‘The Property of the Late Duke of Atholl, Sold by Order of the Executors’), London, Christie's, 15 November 1996, lot 39 (as English School, circa 1753);

Where acquired. 

This expansive view of the New Horse Guards in St James’s Park, London, relates closely to a work by Canaletto last recorded in 1989 in the collection of Captain Patrick John Boteler Drury-Lowe (1931–1993), depicting the New Horse Guards at a slightly later stage of construction, around 1753.¹ In comparison, this painting omits the building introduced between the Horse Guards and the row of townhouses to the right, which in Canaletto’s prototype partially obstructs the façade of the south block. Canaletto explored this subject on two earlier occasions, namely: London, the Old Horse Guards from St James’s Park, formerly in the collection of Andrew Lloyd-Webber, in the Tate Britain, London,² and A view of the New Horse Guards from St James's Park, in a private collection.³

¹ Oil on canvas, 59 x 110.5 cm.; W.G. Constable and J.G. Links, Canaletto: Giovanni Antonio Canal 1697–1768, London 1989, vol. I, reproduced pl. 207, and vol. II, p. 411, no. 418.

² Constable and Links 1989, vol. I, reproduced pl. 76, and vol. II, pp. 409–10, no. 415.

³ Constable and Links 1989, vol. I, reproduced pl. 76, and vol. II, pp. 410–11.