Follower of Giovanni Antonio Canal, called Canaletto, 
Italian 1697-1768- 
The Grand Canal...

Follower of Giovanni Antonio Canal, called Canaletto, 
Italian 1697-1768- 

The Grand Canal looking East from the Carità towards the Bacino; 

oil on canvas, bears printed label '17. GUARDI .... View in Venice. A fine specimen' attached to the upper stretcher bar, bears label for 'The Rowley Gallery' attached to the reverse of the frame, bears indistinct red wax stamp to the right stretcher bar, 60.5 x 102.7 cm. 

Provenance: 
Anon. sale, Christie's, London, 21 November 1930, lot 6 (as 'Canaletto') [31 guineas, 10 shillings]. 
Private Collection, UK. 

Note: 
The present work was likely informed by Canaletto's original composition, which was itself one of a series of twelve views of the Grand Canal, which are now all in the Royal Collection at Hampton Court [RCIN 400523]. 

The Royal Collection notes: 'The painting is dominated by the façade and belltower of Santa Maria della Carità, built in the 1440s under Bartolomeo Bon. The adjacent Scuola Grande della Carità, just visible at the right edge of the painting, casts its shadow on the façade of the church, providing a delightful foil to the sunlit figures on the foreground bridge. The church, monastery and scuola formed one of the most important religious complexes in Venice, though by the eighteenth century the church was in a state of disrepair: of the two statues present on the side pinnacles in two slightly earlier paintings by Canaletto, only one remains here, and the belltower collapsed in 1744. The Scuola was suppressed in 1807, and a decision was made to transfer the Accademia di Pittura e Scultura here from the Fontegheto della Farina. Ten years later the galleries of the Accademia opened in the former Scuola, where they remain. During the subsequent restoration of the redundant church its façade was much altered: the pinnacles were removed such that the upper profile is now formed by the line of the pointed-arch brick detailing, and the windows and portal were bricked up, to be replaced by four round-headed windows. The Rio della Carità in the foreground was filled in around the same time.' 

This specific view is particularly sought after, with other versions by followers of Canaletto selling at Tennants, 12 July 2025, lot 1120 (£19,000 hammer), Sworders, 19 November 2024, lot 100 (£25,000 hammer), and Millon, Paris, 14 February 2023, lot 93 (€21,000 hammer), amongst others.