Buildings, plantings, and figural groups punctuate the calm, verdant lawn that, in tandem with the sky, gives the impression of a vast, open space. This one of Guardi’s rare views of the Venetian mainland. It depicts the country house of John Strange, an antiquarian, naturalist, connoisseur, and diplomat who served as the official British Resident in Venice between 1773 and 1788. An artist, presumably a self-portrait, sketches in the foreground.
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Credit Line:Bequest of Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 2019
Accession Number:2019.141.14
The garden facade of the Villa Loredan, a three-storied block in the Palladian style with a central triangular pediment, is seen across a broad lawn. It is flanked on the right by an arcaded barchessa (rustic storehouse) within a curved wall pierced by a gate. Farther to the right are a sixteenth-century oratory and the Villa Pellegrini, now the town hall of Paese. On the left is a low building beyond the garden wall, at the end of which is an aviary in which a golden pheasant can be recognized. Beyond the trees at the left is the Villa Pisani Sagredo, also known as the Villa del Timpano Arcuato because of its curved pediment. The artist depicted in the left foreground is presumably Francisco Guardi himself.
This painting is one of a set of four views by Guardi, of identical dimensions, three of which represent villas at Paese, about five miles from Treviso on the road to Castelfranco Veneto: The Met's canvas, another depicting the entrance facade of the Villa Loredan (James Fairfax collection, Bowral, New South Wales; Morassi 1973, no. 681), and a third of the Villa del Timpano Arcuato (private collection; Morassi 1973, no. 683). A fourth depicts the courtyard of the Palazzo Contarini dal Zaffo in Venice (Art Institute of Chicago; Morassi 1973, no. 680). They are the only known painted views of this type by the artist. Drawings related to the paintings also survive: three of the entrance facade of the villa (Morassi 1975, nos. 421–23), two of the Villa del Timpano Arcuato (Morassi 1975, nos. 421 verso, 426), two of the courtyard of the Palazzo Contarini (Morassi 1975, nos. 419–20), as well as two of the rolling countryside seen from windows of the villa (Morassi 1975, nos. 424–25). There may have been drawings of the garden facade of the villa that correspond more or less with The Met's painting, but if so, their whereabouts are unknown. A drawing of the entrance facade of the villa in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, bears the following inscription, which establishes the locality of the scene: "View of the Seat of S. E. Loredano at Paese near Treviso at present in the possession of John Strange, Esqr. N.B. grass ground within the Fence; without the post road from Treviso to Bassan" (see Parker 1956).
John Strange (1732–1799), diplomat, author, antiquarian, naturalist, and connoisseur, was the penultimate British Resident at Venice, from 1773 until 1790. He collected old master as well as modern paintings and drawings and was a patron of Guardi, some fifteen of whose paintings were among Strange’s collection when he died. Like most English diplomats of his day living in Italy, he dabbled in art dealing and, for instance, supplied six paintings by Guardi to Thomas Martyn, a Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. While one of the figures in the foreground watching Guardi may indeed be Strange, the circumstances concerning the commission of the painting are not known, so one cannot be sure. Moreover, it is not clear why the set of four view paintings in Strange’s possession included one of the courtyard of the Palazzo Contarini dal Zaffo, a fifteenth-century palace that was acquired in 1783 by the Manzoni, a family of rich silk merchants.
The villa seen here was commissioned in about 1719 by a member of the Loredan family from Giorgio Massari (1687–1766), a Venetian architect who often collaborated with Tiepolo. Sometime before 1779 Count Gerolamo Antonio Loredan sold it to the marchese Giuseppe de Canonicis, who also owned the Villa Pellegrini visible on the far right of The Met's canvas, and it may have been from his family that Strange rented the villa as a summer retreat during his official appointment at Venice. Although the villa was destroyed sometime before 1833, some of its outbuildings—including the barchessa—survive.
The building history of the Villa Pellegrini indicates that the Loredan painting was made in the early 1780s: construction had begun in 1778, and the villa was occupied by its first inhabitants by 1783 (Chiovaro 2001, p. 397). This dating is supported by the style of the costumes on the figures in the picture and by the woman’s coiffure: her hair is piled up in a narrow shape with feathers or flowers on top in a manner that became fashionable in 1775 in Paris and somewhat later in other European centers (Watson 1966).
[2014; adapted from Fahy 2005]
John Strange, Venice (until d. 1799; his estate sale, European Museum, London, May 27, 1799, either no. 49, "A superb chateau in the environs of Padua, Guardi," no. 187, "A view near Padua, Mr. Strange's country seat, Guardi," or no. 200, "A view near Padua, Mr. Strange's country house, Guardi," bought in?; his estate sale, Christie's, London, March 15, 1800, either one of no. 97, "A pair of views near Padua, Mr. Strange's country house," by Guardi, or no. 99, "Two, a superb chateau and companion, in the environs of Padua," by Guardi, each pair for £7.7); Colonel Charles Milligan, Caldwell Hall, Burton on Trent, Staffordshire (until 1883; sale, March 13, 1883, either no. 35, "A pair of views of country seats near Venice, with figures," by Guardi, or no. 36, "A pair of ditto," by Guardi, all four for £735 to Davies); [Charles Davies, London]; [Colnaghi, London; sold to Rothermere]; Harold Sidney Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere; private collection, London (in 1955); [Herbert N. Bier, London, until 1968; sold to Wrightsman]; Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, New York (1968–his d. 1986; cat., 1973, no. 12); Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, New York (1986–d. 2019; cat., 2005, no. 24)
London. Royal Academy of Arts. "European Masters of the Eighteenth Century," November 27, 1954–February 27, 1955, no. 89? (as "Villa Loredan, near Paese (Treviso)," lent anonymously) [either this work or Morassi 1973, no. 681].
Kunsthaus Zürich. "Schönheit des 18.Jahrhunderts: Malerei, Plastik, Porzellan, Zeichnung," September 10–November 6, 1955, no. 134 (as "Villa Loredan bei Paese (Treviso)," lent by a private collection) [either this work or Morassi 1973, no. 681].
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Bellini to Tiepolo: Summer Loans at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 29–August 31, 1993, unnum. checklist.
THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT, BY TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION BY THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART.
Antonio Morassi. "Settecento inedito (II)." Arte veneta 4 (1950), pp. 50–56, figs. 51, 53 (overall and detail), discusses the set of four views of villas by Guardi, all formerly in the collection of Lord Rothermere, London; notes the inscription on the drawing related to the other view of the Villa Loredan identifying the site (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford); identifies the MMA painting as the front of the villa and the Fairfax canvas as the back; dates all four paintings about 1780, noting the women's costumes and plumed hats.
James Byam Shaw. The Drawings of Francesco Guardi. London, 1951, p. 65, under no. 30, identifies this view as showing the back of the villa and the Fairfax picture the front; lists five drawings by Guardi of the same villa; based on the costumes, dates the series about 1775–80.
European Masters of the Eighteenth Century. Exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts. London, 1954, p. 40, no. 89, mentions several related drawings, which suggests that the exhibited painting is the Fairfax canvas, but see Byam Shaw 1955, which seems to indicate that it is the MMA picture.
Giuseppe Mazzotti Libreria Editrice Canova. Le ville venete. Treviso, 1954, pp. 495, 634–36, provides information about the Villa Loredan.
J[ames]. Byam Shaw. "Guardi at the Royal Academy." Burlington Magazine 97 (January 1955), p. 16, states that no. 91 in the London exhibition "apparently depicts the other side of the villa seen in the left background of No. 89," which would make no. 89 the MMA picture, not the Fairfax canvas, contrary to Morassi 1973 and Beresford and Raissis 2003.
K. T. Parker. Catalogue of the Collection of Drawings in the Ashmolean Museum. Vol. 2, Italian Schools. Oxford, 1956, p. 511, under nos. 1015, 1016.
Rodolfo Pallucchini. La pittura veneziana del Settecento. Venice, 1960, p. 248, places the series in the final decade of the artist's activity.
Francis Haskell. "Francesco Guardi as 'vedutista' and some of his Patrons." Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 23 (July–December 1960), p. 270, rejects identifying "A view near Padua, Mr. Strange's country house," no. 200 in Strange's sale of 1799, with a view of the Villa Loredan at Paese.
K. T. Parker and J[ames]. Byam Shaw. Canaletto e Guardi. Exh. cat., Fondazione Giorgio Cini. Venice, 1962, pp. 76–77, under no. 108, dates the related drawings to 1778, and the four paintings to the same period or slightly later.
Winslow Ames. "The 'Villa dal Timpano Arcuato' by Francesco Guardi." Master Drawings 1 (Autumn 1963), pp. 37–38, states that the four paintings passed from Colnaghi to Lord Rothermere.
Jacob Bean. 100 European Drawings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, [1964?], unpaginated, under no. 46.
Pietro Zampetti. Mostra dei Guardi. Exh. cat., Palazzo Grassi. Venice, 1965, p. 268, under no. 139.
F. J. B. Watson. "Gulbenkian Collection of Francesco Guardi." Burlington Magazine 108 (October 1966), p. 532, notes that the feathered headdress worn by the woman depicted in this painting was a style first seen in Paris in early 1774, probably reached Venice by 1776, and may have lingered there longer than in Paris.
F. J. B. Watson. "Letters: The Gulbenkian Guardis." Burlington Magazine 109 (February 1967), p. 98, notes that the series "cannot have been painted before mid-1774 and probably date[s] from a good deal later".
Francis J. B. Watson. "Guardi and England." Problemi guardeschi. [Venice], 1967, p. 210, mistakenly refers to "four views of the country villa Strange rented at Paese".
J. G. Links. "Secrets of Venetian Topography." Apollo 90 (September 1969), pp. 227–28, colorpl. XIX, states that it was in Lord Rothermere's collection in the 1920s and that "there is reason to think it was for some time in the possession of the Rothschild family".
J[ames]. Byam Shaw. "The Biron Collection of Eighteenth-Century Drawings in the Metropolitan Museum." Metropolitan Museum Journal 3 (1970), p. 251.
Italian Drawings from the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Exh. cat., Wildenstein. New York, 1970, unpaginated, under no. 70, confuses this picture with the one in the Fairfax collection.
Antonio Massari. Giorgio Massari: architetto veneziano del Settecento. Vicenza, 1971, p. 34.
Jacob Bean and Felice Stampfle. Drawings from New York Collections. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 3, "The Eighteenth Century in Italy."[New York], 1971, p. 87, under no. 207.
Antonio Morassi in Mercedes Precerutti Garberi. Frescoes from Venetian Villas. London, 1971, pp. 1–2, refers to "four splendid canvases showing views of Venetian villas" which were discovered in London during the last war.
Everett Fahy inThe Wrightsman Collection. Vol. 5, Paintings, Drawings. [New York], 1973, pp. 106–15, no. 12, ill. p. 107 (color), figs. 1, 2 (details), notes that the dealer Charles Davies, who acquired all four paintings at the 1883 sale, bought extensively for various members of the Rothschild family.
Antonio Morassi. Guardi: Antonio e Francesco Guardi. Venice, [1973?], vol. 1, pp. 255–56, 259 nn. 21–22, pp. 436–37, no. 682; vol. 2, figs. 640, 642 (overall and detail), as in a private collection, London; states that the set of four paintings was sold at Christie's in about 1942.
Luigina Rossi Bortolatto. L'opera completa di Francesco Guardi. Milan, 1974, p. 124, no. 579, ill. p. 122, as in a private collection, London; dates the series between 1773 and 1778, or possibly later.
Antonio Morassi. Guardi: tutti i disegni di Antonio, Francesco e Giacomo Guardi. Venice, 1975, p. 153, under no. 419.
Ben Koevoets. "Italië 15e - 18e eeuw." Oude tekeningen in het bezit van de Gemeentemusea van Amsterdam waaronder de collectie Fodor. Vol. 1, Amsterdam, 1976, p. 33, under no. 23.
Denys Sutton. "Aspects of British Collecting, Part II: VII, From Florence to Venice." Apollo 116 (December 1982), p. 398, fig. 24, dates it 1773–90; incorrectly states that the four pictures were included in the 1941 Rothermere sale.
Laura Giles in Deborah J. Johnson. Old Master Drawings from the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design. Exh. cat., Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design. Providence, 1983, pp. 71, 73, under no. 21.
Jacob Bean and William Griswold. 18th Century Italian Drawings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1990, pp. 108, 112, under no. 93.
Susanna Biadene inI Tiepolo e il Settecento vicentino. Ed. Fernando Rigon et al. Exh. cat., location unknown, Vicenza et al. Milan, 1990, pp. 362, 364, under no. 7.2.6.
Dario Succi. Francesco Guardi: itinerario dell'avventura artistica. [Milan], 1993, pp. 98–99, 103, remarks that the series was commissioned in about 1780 by Strange.
Alessandro Bettagno inFrancesco Guardi: vedute, capricci, feste. Exh. cat., Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice. Milan, 1993, p. 68, under no. 13.
John Russell. "An Assortment of Very-Welcome Summer Guests." New York Times (August 6, 1993), p. C24.
Mitchell Merling inThe Glory of Venice: Art in the Eighteenth Century. Ed. Jane Martineau and Andrew Robison. Exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts, London. New Haven, 1994, p. 460, under no. 216, remarking that "the series is usually dated to the time of one of Guardi's trips in the Trentino in 1778 and 1782," calls the later date more likely.
Mary Ann A. Powers inThe Dictionary of Art. Ed. Jane Turner. Vol. 29, New York, 1996, p. 746.
Simonetta Chiovaro. Ville venete: la Provincia di Treviso. [Venice], 2001, pp. 393, 400.
Richard Beresford and Peter Raissis. The James Fairfax Collection of Old Master Paintings, Drawings, and Prints. Exh. cat., Art Gallery of New South Wales. Sydney, 2003, pp. 97, 100–101, under no. 25, fig. 25.1.
Everett Fahy inThe Wrightsman Pictures. Ed. Everett Fahy. New York, 2005, pp. 81–83, no. 24, ill. (color).
Hakim Bishara. "A Glorious Gift of European Artworks Is on Display at the Metropolitan Museum." Hyperallergic. November 19, 2019, ill. (color, installation views) [https://hyperallergic.com/528444/a-glorious-gift-of-european-artworks-is-on-display-at-the-metropolitan-museum/].
The Private Collection of Jayne Wrightsman. Christie's, New York. October 14, 2020, p. 12.
This work may not be lent, by terms of its acquisition by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Francesco Guardi (Italian, Venice 1712–1793 Venice)
ca. 1788–93
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