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'L'Anconetta near Venice'
Private Collection, England / Photograph by John Hammond
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Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
'L'Anconetta near Venice'
c.1765 (undated)
Oil on canvas
16.5 x 22.9 cm
6 1/2 x 9 in.
Private Collection, England
BB21
P149
Brighton 1920 (31 - Seascape); Exeter 1946 (57 - Seascape, near Venice); London 1968 (9); London, Cardiff and New Haven, 1982-83 (109); Conwy 2009 (17); Weston 2011 (19); Gainsborough's House 2014 (unnumbered)
Benjamin Booth; thence by descent
This painting depicts the small church of Sta Maria dell'Anconetta. L'Anconetta is a small island near Marghera, off Mestre, on which the church of Sta Maria dell'Anconetta was built. The church and its community were dependent on the Patriarch of Venice.
D193 Studio of Wilson, The Island of Anconetta, Venice, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
E72/25 Thomas Hastings after Wilson, Untitled ['L'Anconetta near Venice'], The British Museum (1854,0708.82) and other impressions
Luke Herrmann noted that the style of this dramatic landscape though dark, was reminiscent of Francesco Guardi (Walpole Society 1998-I, p. 16) and Gareth Williams has commented that it is likely, with its loose handling of paint, to have been produced after Wilson's return to England. However, this style, combined with the small size of the work, could argue as easily for a later date towards the end of the artist's career. The title comes from Benjamin Booth's list but the buildings are not identical with those in Wilson's other views of the island of Anconetta (P113 and other versions) or that by Guardi. There are similarities between the tower, its two upper openings and the arched superstructure with elements of the Torre delle Grotte (see P70).
Booth Notes Doc. 9 (*2); WGC, pp. 79, 193, pl. 66c; Solkin 1982, p. 219, no. 109; Walpole Society 1998-I, p. 16, BB21; Lord 2009, p. 56, no. 17; Williams 2011, p. 30, repr.
The title was given by Benjamin Booth in the 1790s. A small church called Sta Maria l'Anconetta existed in Venice near San Marcuola until it was demolished in 1855.
16/11/2021