Studio RT Ltd

Description

We are offering for sale this wonderfully executed watercolour by the artist Joseph (Josephus) de Caynoth Ballardie, who has entitled the painting to the lower left hand corner 'Chiesa della St. Annunziata Firenze', signed it to the lower right J. de Caynoth Ballardie and dated it 1911.

The watercolour depicts an interior view, leading to the altar, of the Basilica della Chiesa Santissima Annunziata in Firenze (Florence). In front of the altar can be seen a figure in white with a white umbrella over his head, who is possibly the Pope, with a group of choice boys or priests, some holding candles. Many interior views of the Basilica can be viewed on google and it does not appear to have changed much in the last one hundred years.

The church was founded in 1250 by the seven original members of the Servite Order. In 1252, a painting of the Annunciation, which had been begun by one of the monks but abandoned in despair because he did not feel he could create a beautiful enough image, was supposedly completed by an angel while he slept. This painting was placed in the church and became so venerated that in 1444 the Gonzaga family from Mantua financed a special tribune. Michelozzo, who was the brother of the Servite prior, was commissioned to build it, but since Ludovico III Gonzaga had a special admiration for Leon Battista Alberti, Alberti in 1469 was given the commission. His vision was limited, however, by the pre-existing foundations. Construction was completed in 1481, after Alberti’s death. Though the space was given a Baroque dressing in the seventeenth century, the basic scheme of a domed circular space flanked by altar niches is still visible.

The facade of the church was added in 1601 by the architect Giovanni Battista Caccini, in imitation of Brunelleschi's facade of the Foundling Hospital, which defines the eastern side of the piazza. The building across from the Foundling Hospital, designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Elder, was also given a Brunelleschian facade in the 1520s.

Joseph de Caynoth Ballardie 1848-1916, was born in Lanarkshire, although it is believed that the family originally came from Italy. He was a graduate of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilding 1869) and a Naval Architect (1871). He published a book in 1879 entitled 'Buildings in conncention with Coffee Cultivation'. (Pub. Straker).

He exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy and the Glasgow Institution according to the Dictionary of British Artists (Collectors' Club) in 1887/8 from an address at 14 West Princes Street, Glasgow.

The painting is in its original gilt mount and has been newly reframed in a 2 3/4" gilt frame. It will be supplied wired and ready to hang.

Image size 21 7/8" x 17 1/2" - 55.5cm x 44.5cm

Frame size 31 1/8" x 26 3/8" - 79cm x 67cm

Medium Watercolours

Condition Very good. There is no foxing and only very minor fading, consistent with age. The gilt mount is in very good condition and the frame is new.