Apollonio Domenichini,

also known as

The Master of

the Langmatt Foundation Views(Venice 1715 - c.1770)

The Bacino di San Marco, Venice

inscribed ‘AP Domenigini’ on the original canvas underneath the lining, the stamp of Francis Leedham (1794-1870) on the stretcher,

and previously with an inventory number ‘309’ inscribed on the reverse of an old lining oil on canvas

76.2 x 122.5 cm (30 x 48¼ in)

Provenance: Possibly John Strange (1732-1799);possibly at his posthumous selling exhibition, London, European Museum, 27th May 1799, no. 202, ‘A view in Venice, Domenichino’;

possibly John Rushout, 2nd Baron Northwick (1770-1859)

hiS DEPictioN oF AN icoNic VENEtiAN ViStA provides the answer to one of the longstanding mysteries of Venetian vedute painting: the identity of the enigmatic Master of the Langmatt Foundation Views. As will be discussed, the hypothesis that Apollonio Domenichini could be the painter

of the large body of finely executed and distinctive vedute, which have collectively been attributed to the Langmatt Master, has been debated by scholars of Venetian painting for several years. however, it is only now, with the discovery of a lost inscription on the original lining of the present work, see figure 1, that we can now state definitively that Domenichini is indeed the painter of the Langmatt views.

Apollonio Domenichini has long been the cause of puzzlement for scholars of eighteenth-century italian painting. his name is registered in the Fraglia (guild) of Venice in 1757, but no works bearing his signature have ever been discovered. this in itself would not be unusual in the case of a minor veduta artist, because unscrupulous dealers could then attribute them to the more sought after and celebrated masters. however, this is clearly not the explanation in the case of Domenichini, as certain contemporary sources make it clear that he was in fact an artistic figure of some importance. in an article of 1947 Fabio Mauroner, whilst examining correspondence between the important British collector John Strange (1732-1799) and his Venetian dealer Giuseppe Maria Sasso, noted the frequency that Domenichini was discussed, making it remarkable that none of his works had been identified.¹ Mauroner concludes by speculating that perhaps a work in an American or British collection might have the name of Domenichini written on the frame, as was the custom in those countries. Some fifty years later

Dario Succi conceded that such an eventuality appeared unlikely in the foreseeable future,² and yet with the discovery of the inscription ‘AP Domenigini’ on the original canvas, scholars can now start to construct a coherent oeuvre for this lost master, using the present work as the primary source.

Before the discovery of the inscription, the painting had already been attributed, on stylistic grounds, to the Master of the Langmatt Foundation Views by charles Beddington. the oeuvre of the master has derived from a set of thirteen vedute, purchased in the 1920s by Sidney and Jenny Brown and now kept at the eponymous Langmatt Foundation in Baden, Switzerland.³ Distinctive in style, his works are scattered throughout major public and private collections, although

T

¹ Mauroner, F., ‘colleczionisti e vedutisti settecenteschi in Venezia’, in Arte Veneta (No. 1, 1947), pp. 48-50.² Succi, D. ‘il sottile fascino di un anonimo veneziano’, in Mythos Venedig: Venezianische Veduten des 18. Jahrhunderts, exh. cat., (Museum Langmatt, Baden, 1994), p. 50.

³ See Mythos Venedig, pp. 62-117.⁴ Martini, E., ‘Gaetano Vetturali e Apollonio Domenichini: due vedutisti ‘minori’, tra gli altri, del Settecento veneto’ in Ommaggio secondo all’arte veneta nel ricordo di Rudolfo Pallucchini, (Edizioni della Laguna, Monfalcone, 2000), pp. 156-161.

The inscription ‘AP Domenigini’, discovered underneath an old lining, on the reverse of the original canvas of the present work (Figure1)

they have often been misattributed to various followers of canaletto (1697-1768). Various scholars, including Succi and Egidio Martini⁴, have posited that Domenichini may have been responsible for these works, on the basis that these paintings of significant quality had no known author, and likewise an artist who was obviously of some importance had no works ascribed to him. however, this suggestion was put forward with great reservation, due to its speculative nature, and was certainly not universally accepted. During restoration of the present work, an old nineteenth-century lining was removed to reveal the inscription which, as Succi has pointed out, is the first time a reference to the artist has been discovered on a painting. therefore the known works of the Langmatt Master can for the first time be securely given to Domenichini.

the reverse of the work provides several tantalising clues to to the early provenance of the painting. As already mentioned, John Strange was an important and avid collector of paintings, with a particular interest in Venetian painting. in 1773 he was appointed British resident at Venice and he stayed in this diplomatic post until 1788. he then returned to England, and settled at Ridge, near Barnet. however, he continued to travel to italy, seemingly in order to transport the valuable collections of pictures, books, manuscripts and antiquities, which he

had built up. We know from his correspondence with Sasso that he owned many works by Domenichini. this is in fact one reason why Domenichini may not have signed his name, because if he worked for just a few select patrons his signature would have been redundant. Despite the fact that Strange collected Domenichini’s work over many years, the artist’s name does not appear in a posthumous selling exhibition at the European Museum in 1799, nor at a sale at christie’s the following year.⁵ this is understandable given that none of the works would have been signed, and the deceased Strange would not have been able to advise the dealers and auctioneers. instead, there are numerous works which are attributed to canaletto, Guardi and others. however, in the catalogue of 1799 exhibition, one work seems implausible. Number

202 is described as ‘A view in Venice, Domenichino’, which surely must be a mistake, given that Domenichino would not have painted any topographical views, and certainly not of Venice. Given that the attribution seems so unlikely, it seems reasonable to assume that the cataloguer must have misread a signature or an inscription, such as ‘Domenigini’. Since the present work is the only recorded example of a Domenichini painting with a signature or inscription, it seems likely that it is the work recorded in Strange’s collection.

the stretcher of the painting also bears the stamp of Francis Leedham (1794-1870), who was the leading picture liner and restorer of his day. he worked for some of the most important collectors and institutions of the period, including the National Gallery, Lord hertford (1800-1870) (whose collection would become the basis for the Wallace collection), and perhaps most interestingly Lord Northwick (1770-1859), who assembled one of the great British collections of old Masters. Leedham and Northwick evidently had a close professional relationship, and to the extent that in the catalogue of an 1838 sale of part of the Northwick collection, Leedham’s contribution is singled out, a highly unusual inclusion.⁶ We also know that Lord Northwick had purchased works at Strange’s posthumous sales, such as Bartolomeo Vivarini’s (active 1450-91) The Death of the Virgin, which today can be

seen at Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York⁷, so it seems possible that the present work may have followed a similar route.

the work itself depicts one of the most magnificent of Venetian views. Across the water of the Bacino di San Marco is the Piazza San Marco, the so called ‘drawing room of Europe’⁸, and together with the buildings flanking it on either side, the viewer is presented with one of the most famous italian vistas. Moving from left to right across the canvas, the scene takes in the long red brick façade of the public granaries, with the fish market in front. From the granaries, which were demolished in 1808 to make way for the Giardino Reale, we come to two buildings designed by Jacopo Sansovino (1486-1570): the Zecca, or mint, and the Biblioteca Marciana, above which rises the Campanile. in

Apollonio Domenichini, The Grand Canal and the Rialto Bridge, Venice, from the North, Museo Thyssen Bornemisza, Madrid (Figure 3)

Apollonio Domenichini, Venice, A View of the Bacino of San Marco with the Piazzetta, Private collection (Figure 2)

⁵ See European Museum, London, 27th May 1799 (Lugt 5924a); and christie’s, London, 15th March 1800 (Lugt 6038).

⁶ christie & Manson, A Catalogue of the... Gallery of Pictures... of the Right Hon. Lord Northwick; removed from Connaught Place, 24-26 May 1838, lots 54, 73, 109.⁷ Accession Number 50.229.1.⁸ this remark is traditionally attributed to Napoleon, although it is now considered apocryphal. See Plant, M., Venice Fragile City: 1797-1997 (Yale University Press, 2002), pp. 65-6.

GRANARiES

ZEccA(MiNt)

cAMPANiLE

St. MARk'S

LiBRARY

cLock toWER

DoGE'S PALAcE

NEW PRiSoN

coLUMN With St. thEoDoRE

coLUMN With St. MARk

the centre of the work, at the busiest point of the Bacino, is the Molo, or paved dock, beyond which is the Piazzetta which in turn expands into the Piazza San Marco. there, some of its most famous sights are discernible, including the clock tower and the domes of St. Mark’s Basilica. to the right of the Molo is the gothic Doge’s Palace, the New Prisons, and finally, on the extreme right of the work, is the Palazzo Dandolo.

Details of Domenichini’s life are relatively scarce, although scholars have started to construct a fuller picture through his paintings and various archival sources. From a catalogue of the paintings of count Bonomo Algarotti, Succi discovered that he was born in Venice in 1715. this catalogue, which was compiled in 1776, makes clear that Domenichini had died, but does not provide specific date, but Succi suggests it was probably around 1770.⁹ he may have been a pupil of Luca carelvarijs (1663-1730), and he seems to have been independently active from c. 1740. the homogenous group at the Langmatt Foundation have been dated to c. 1744 on the basis of architectural details. Likewise, a terminus post quem can be established for the present work by the depiction of the clock tower after the addition of a second attic storey to the wings of the building in 1755, by Giorgio Massari (1687-1766). there is also a work in a private collection, which Succi has identified as being by Domenichini, which is dated ‘ANNo MDccXXXXVi’ (1746).¹⁰ it is clear from topographical details in other works, that he was painting until c. 1770.

Domenichini painted many of the classic Venetian views that had been popularised by the previous generation of vedutisti, most notably canaletto, who painted at least ten versions of the present view. Similarly, Domenichini painted this view on several occasions, see figure 2, to help meet the demand caused by the phenomenon of the Grand tour. however, he also painted many Roman works, some of them topographically accurate, and some capricci, which recall the work of Marco Ricci (1676-1730).

By comparing the present work to the Museo thyssen Bornemisza’s The Grand Canal and the Rialto Bridge, Venice, from the North, see figure 3, many of the qualities and techniques that distinguish Domenichini from his contemporaries become evident. in both works there is a slight distortion of perspective, so that the view is broadened to create a more panoramic vista, a trait perhaps resulting from the use of an optical chamber. Due to this aspect, Domenichini’s work has been linked by Succi to the work of Michele Marieschi (1710-1743) and Francesco Albotto (1721-1757), although in general his work seems to have more in common with the canalettesque works of Francesco tironi (1745-1797). certainly the quality of execution of the vivid and colourful figures is one of the outstanding features of the present work. Another characteristic technique is his use of parallel white lines to convey shimmer of light across the moving water.

We are grateful to charles Beddington and Dario Succi for confirming the attribution of the present work to Apollonio Domenichini.

⁹ Succi, D. ‘Apollonio Domenichini: il “Maestro della Fondazione Langmatt”, in Da Canaletto a Zuccarelli: Il Paesaggio Veneto del Settecento, exh. cat. (tavagnacco, 2003), p. 104.¹⁰ Ibid., p. 106, fig. 77.