GIACOMO GUARDI (ITALIAN 1764-1835), THE ASCENT OF A BALLOON FROM THE

GIACOMO GUARDI (ITALIAN 1764-1835) THE ASCENT OF A BALLOON FROM THE GIUDECCA CANAL Pen and ink with grey wash, over traces of pencil, on laid paper 17 x 24cm (6½ x 9¼in.) Provenance: The collection of Giancarlo Baroni His estate sale, Sotheby's, New York, Property from the Estate of Giancarlo Baroni, 30 January 2013, lot 120 The collection of The Honorable C. Boyden Gray This drawing by Giacomo Guardi depicts the first ascent of a hot air balloon in Venice. The balloon was commissioned by Francesco Pesaro (1740-1799), the Procurator of San Marco, and launched by the Bolognese aviation pioneer Count Giovanni Zambeccari (1752-1812) on 15 April 1784. In June of the previous year, the Montgolfier brothers had launched their first unmanned balloon at Annonay, France, an extraordinary spectacle and engineering feat that likely inspired Pesaro to commission his own. Taken from the Punta della Dogana, Giacomo’s drawing shows the balloon in flight, framed between the columns of a portico with spectators gathered to watch the historic event unfold. Below the balloon, gondolas line the Giudecca Canal, on the far side of which can be seen the facade and dome of Andrea Palladio’s church of Le Zitelle. To the east, on the far left of the composition, stands Palladio’s church of San Giorgio Maggiore. This event was captured by Giacomo’s father, Francesco Guardi, in the pen and wash drawing formerly in the collection of Dr. Altmann (see J. Byam Shaw, The Drawings of Francesco Guardi, London, 1951, p. 70, no. 46), a work that served as a preparatory sketch for his upright oil in the Gemaldegalerie, Berlin (1784). The numerous differences between Giacomo’s drawing and that executed by his father suggest that the younger artist, who would have been twenty at the time of the ascent, may well have been present and made his own independent sketch to commemorate the event. Condition Report Disclaimer, GIACOMO GUARDI (ITALIAN 1764-1835), THE ASCENT OF A BALLOON FROM THE GIUDECCA CANAL, GIACOMO GUARDI (ITALIAN 1764-1835) THE ASCENT OF A BALLOON FROM THE GIUDECCA CANAL Pen and ink with grey wash, over traces of pencil, on laid paper 17 x 24cm (6½ x 9¼in.) Provenance: The collection of Giancarlo Baroni His estate sale, Sotheby's, New York, Property from the Estate of Giancarlo Baroni, 30 January 2013, lot 120 The collection of The Honorable C. Boyden Gray This drawing by Giacomo Guardi depicts the first ascent of a hot air balloon in Venice. The balloon was commissioned by Francesco Pesaro (1740-1799), the Procurator of San Marco, and launched by the Bolognese aviation pioneer Count Giovanni Zambeccari (1752-1812) on 15 April 1784. In June of the previous year, the Montgolfier brothers had launched their first unmanned balloon at Annonay, France, an extraordinary spectacle and engineering feat that likely inspired Pesaro to commission his own. Taken from the Punta della Dogana, Giacomo’s drawing shows the balloon in flight, framed between the columns of a portico with spectators gathered to watch the historic event unfold. Below the balloon, gondolas line the Giudecca Canal, on the far side of which can be seen the facade and dome of Andrea Palladio’s church of Le Zitelle. To the east, on the far left of the composition, stands Palladio’s church of San Giorgio Maggiore. This event was captured by Giacomo’s father, Francesco Guardi, in the pen and wash drawing formerly in the collection of Dr. Altmann (see J. Byam Shaw, The Drawings of Francesco Guardi, London, 1951, p. 70, no. 46), a work that served as a preparatory sketch for his upright oil in the Gemaldegalerie, Berlin (1784). The numerous differences between Giacomo’s drawing and that executed by his father suggest that the younger artist, who would have been twenty at the time of the ascent, may well have been present and made his own independent sketch to commemorate the event. Provenance:, Property from the Estate of Giancarlo Baroni, The Drawings of Francesco Guardi, Condition Report Disclaimer

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