CANALETTO (GIOVANNI ANTONIO CANAL)
ISLANDS OF THE LAGOON AND THE ARSENAL SEEN FROM THE CAMPO SAN PIETRO DI CASTELLO
This painting forms a pair with Inv. No. 3061 (cat. 120)
The preliminary sketch for this composition can be seen in an album of Canaletto drawings (previously in the collection of I.Brass, Venice; in the 18th-century it belonged to Francesco Algarotti). Opinions as to the date of these works vary, the maturity of the painterly execution would, however, indicate that they were painted c 1740.
In the past they were attributed to the German artist Johann (Giovanni) Richter who worked in Venice; it was M.Y.Libman, who attributed them to Canaletto.
Provenance: held in the collection of M.B.Benediktov (Moscow); acquired by the Pushkin Museum from the NKVD (Peoples' Commissariat of Internal Affairs) in 1937.
