PROVENANCE -

Private Collection, UK.

Zocchi was by far the greatest view-painter of the eighteenth century in Florence, a city which never developed a ‘school’ of view painters. His wide activity as an artist includes paintings of views, mainly of his native city,[i] capricci of classical ruins, and a superb series of drawings for engravings of Florence and elsewhere in Tuscany published in 1744 as Scelta di XXIV Vedute delle principali Contrade, Piazze, Chiese, e Palazzi della Città di Firenze and Vedute delle Ville, e altri Luoghi della Toscana.[ii] Zocchi’s painted views were clearly inspired by direct contact with Bernardo Bellotto, and the influences – reciprocal in the figures – have led to occasional confusion between the two artists.[iii] A pen and ink drawing of The Arno at Florence, looking East towards the Ponte alla Carraia in the Uffizi, traditionally attributed to Zocchi, has been recognised by Marco Chiarini as the work of Bellotto.[iv] Conversely, a closely related drawing (with notable variations) in Darmstadt with a provenance from Bellotto, has been identified by Chiarini as the work of Zocchi.[v]There is no evidence of any contact between Zocchi and Bellotto after the latter’s only certain visit to Florence, which is now known to have taken place in the summer of 1740 rather than in the spring of 1742, as had been supposed.[vi] Nor, surprisingly, is there any evidence of Zocchi ever having visited Venice. Zocchi’s capricci, on the other hand, look south to Rome and are clearly intended to rival those of Giovanni Paolo Panini.

Both compositions derive from Giovanni Paolo Panini. They are taken, however, from completely unconnected sources, of widely differing sizes. The first corresponds with a signed canvas, measuring 68 x 55 cm., now in the Musée de Picardie, Amiens (F. Arisi, Gian Paolo Panini e i fasti della Roma del ’700, Rome, 1986, p. 397, no. 333, illustrated). A variant of that, of the same size as this painting, including a round temple in the left background, is one of a pair in the Museo del Prado, Madrid (idem, no. 332, illustrated). The second corresponds with one of a pair, measuring 42 x 29 cm., in a private collection (idem, p. 476, no. 496, illustrated).

[i] For views of Florence recently sold at auction, see Sotheby’s, London, 11 December 2003, lots 44-5, Christie’s, London, 4 December 2012, lot 54, and Christie’s, Paris, 

3 December 2003, lot 718 (a pair); an important view of Rome was sold at Bonhams, London, 8 July 2009, and was subsequently with Luca Baroni.

[ii] See, for instance, the catalogue of the exhibition Vues de Florence et de Toscane d’après Giuseppe Zocchi, Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Geneva, 1974; for the complete set of preparatory drawings in the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, see, for instance, E. Evans Dee, catalogue of the exhibition Views of Florence and Tuscany by Giuseppe Zocchi 1711-1767, International Exhibitions Foundation, 1968-9.

[iii] For the resemblances, see, for instance, A. Tosi, Inventare la Realtà: Giuseppe Zocchi e la Toscana del Settecento, Florence, 1997, figs. on pp. 76-7 and 81.

[iv] M. Chiarini in the catalogue of the exhibition Bernardo Bellotto e le città europee, Museo di Castelvecchio, Verona, 15 June – 16 September 1990, pp. 62-3, no. 6, illustrated.

[v] M. Bleyl, Bernardo Bellotto genannt Canaletto: Zeichnungen aus dem Hessischen Landesmuseum Darmstadt, Darmstadt, 1981, p. 72, no. 57, illustrated; M. Chiarini in the catalogue of the exhibition Firenze e la sua Immagine: cinque secoli di vedutismo, Forte di Belvedere, Florence, 29 June – 30 September 1994, p. 160, under no. 94.

[vi] He arrived sometime between May and August and returned to Venice after 

30 September 1740, see B.A. Kowalczyk, 'Bellotto and Zanetti in Florence', The Burlington Magazine, CLIV, No. 1306, January 2012, p. 24.