The elder brother of the more famous Francesco, Giovanni Antonio Guardi was a painter of religious, historical, mythological, and allegorical subjects. The flickering brushwork and dissolution of form that distinguish his paintings relate to the spirited handling of the pen and free application of wash in this drawing. The sheet belongs to a series of at least fifty- eight sketches depicting scenes from Venetian history. Most are based on earlier compositions; the Morgan's drawing derives from a painting of the same subject in the Palazzo Ducale, Venice, by Francesco Bassano (1549-1592). --Exhibition Label, from "Tiepolo, Guardi, and Their World: Eighteenth-Century Venetian Drawings"
For discussion of this drawing, see William Barcham, "The Issue of Copies: Three Drawings by Giannantonio Guardi in New York," Artibus et Historiae 83/XLII (2021).
Watermark: large trefoil, letters A C.
Numbered on verso, in an old hand, in pen and black ink, "13".
Bassano, Francesco da Ponte, 1549-1592, Copy after.
Morosini-Gatterburg, former owner.
Veneto, Mogliano, former owner.
Davis, Richard S., 1917-1985, former owner.
Ryskamp, Charles, ed. Sixteenth Report to the Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library, 1969-1971. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1973, p. 114.
Stampfle, Felice, and Jacob Bean. Drawings from New York collections. III: The eighteenth century in Italy. New York : Metropolitan Museum of Art : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1971, no. 166, repr.