Old Master Paintings Part 1

GIOVANNI ANTONIO GUARDI (1699 – 1760)
AND FRANCESCO GUARDI (1712 – 1793)
ALL’ ABBEVERATORIO – AT THE DRINKING TROUGH
Oil on canvas.
84.5 x 115 cm.
Verso on the stretcher: two labels from the Metro politan
Museum Manila, Roxas Boulevard, Philippines,
with title and dimensions. Furthermore, on the relining,
transferred from the original canvas: rectangular
inventory label printed with a blue decorative border
and with the handwritten inscription: “Guardi fontana
/ No M 2500”.
Without going into further details, the present depiction
displays a high-ranking composition and painting
style. In previous literature, the painting was classed
as a work by Francesco and as a collaboration between
the two painters Francesco and Giovanni­ Antonio.
First published in 1973 by Antonio Morassi, as part of a
Milan collection (Luigi Calli a Carate Brianza), dating it
to the creative period of 1730-35; later, in 1988, Dario
Succi attributed the painting solely to Francesco Guardi
in his publication. Subsequently, the painting was
published as a collaboration between the two Guardi.
It originates from the collection of Imelda Marcos (b.
1929), widow of the 10th President of the Philippines,
Ferdinand Marcos. It is comparable to a canvas painting
laid on panel from a Milan collection, with the title
Il grande abbeveratorio by A. Morassi (93 x 133 cm.),
of which another, final version (80.6 x 114.9 cm.) was
auctioned at Christie’s, New York on 14 October 2021,
with the catalogue note “an example of the production
of the Guardi brother’s early studio practice“. Consequently,
the work presented in this lot originates from
the Imelda Marcos collection and was listed under
number 66 in the collection register and published in
the Philippine Daily Inquirer magazine in 2014. There,
it is also mentioned as a collaboration between the
two painters. In 1991, further works from the Marcos
collection were sold at auction at Christie’s. The label
on the back suggests that the painting was exhibited
in the Metropolitan Museum of Manila (Philippines),
probably on loan from the President’s widow.
Provenance:
Imelda Marcos collection, widow of the former
president of the Philippines.
Metropolitan Museum of Manila.
Literature:
Discussed several times and illustrated in:
Antonio Morassi, Guardi, Venice 1973, vol. I, p. 103
and p. 133, no. 139; vol. II, ill. 157, 158, and p. 334,
no. 140.
Dario Succi, Capricci veneziani del Settecento, Torino
1988, p. 319, ill. 17.
Philippine Daily Inquirer, 2014: (https://newsinfo.
inquirer.net/644229/imeldific-collection-of-artworkspartial-list).
Filippo Pedrocco, F. Montecuccoli degli Erre, Antonio
Guardi, Milan 1992, p. 125, no. 24, p. 167 ill. 24.
Dario Succi, Francesco Guardi. Itinerario dell’avventura
artistica, Milan 1993, p. 222, ill. 248.
€ 170.000 - € 200.000
Sistrix
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