A Lady Seen from Behind

Luca Carlevarijs, (1663-1730) was an Italian painter, engraver and architect particularly known for his views of Venice. Although he was more than simply a view painter, much of his work was certainly in the genre later made popular by Canaletto and Francesco Guardi. In 1679 Carlevaris moved to Venice and is said to have made a trip to Rome in 1698. In 1703 he published Le fabriche e vedute di Venezia disegnate poste in prospettiva et intagliate da Luca Carlevaris which included 104 views of Venice. It was the most complete survey of the fabric of the city ever produced and served as a model for Venetian view painters throughout the 18th century.

This study of a woman seen from behind is one of Carlevarijs’ studies known as macchiette, the quick sketches he made with daubs of colour to indicate animated Venetian figures. Carlevarijs first drew the figures on paper, copying them from people he saw in the streets and then transformed them into lively oil sketches, such as this one, which represent a crucial part of his artistic process. Studies such as these would ultimately form part of a Venetian veduta or prospect painting, which is a genre Carlevarijs is generally credited with establishing in the eighteenth century. He populated his vedute with elegantly posed and well-dressed figures, concealing the decline of the Republic under the splendour of the pageants, festivals and regattas he often represented. While this precise figure remains to be identified in a finished painting, a woman in similar dress and slightly different pose appears in the centre middleground of The Piazza San Marco (Private Collection) suggesting that Carlevarijs made several studies of the same woman.