The Angels Appearing to Abraham

Provenance

Where it has been

1. Until 1800 –
   Possibly Federigo Giovanelli, Venice
   high confidenceCleveland Museum of Art

   “Possibly Federigo Giovanelli, Venice (Until 1800) [notes: In 1934, Rodolfo Pallucchini mentions a Guardi painting depicting the “Sacrifice of Abraham” as possibly appearing in the 1731 will of Count Giovanni Benedetto Giovanelli.  In 1964, Terisio Pignatti argued that several Guardi copies (the Cleveland paintings are all copies after paintings by other artists) listed in the 1800 inventory attached to the will of Federigo Giovanelli could be the same ones recorded in the 1731 will as executed by the “Fratelli Guardi.”  However, there are two problems with this suggestion: First, the Cleveland Guardi pictures are dated to the 1750s – twenty years after the 1731 will.  Second, Alice Binion notes that the Guardi copies recorded in 1731 did not remain in the possession of the Guardi family, but rather were bequeathed to a certain Antonio de Caroli (Archivio Venice, Atti Marcello Girolamo – Testamenti 612, No. 345: “Al sunominato Sigr Antonio de Caroli mio amorevole…lascio le copie de quadri, che egli tiene di mia ragione, fatte dalli Fratelli Guardi…”).  Thus, if the Cleveland Guardis are indeed those mentioned in the inventory of 1800, they would have come into the Giovanelli family’s possession sometime after 1731 and would not be found in both inventories.  ]”

2. ? –
   Baroness Valerie Groedel, Budapest
   high confidenceCleveland Museum of Art

   “Baroness Valerie Groedel, Budapest (?)”

3. By 1933? –
   (Neumann Gallery, Vienna)
   high confidenceCleveland Museum of Art

   “(Neumann Gallery, Vienna) (By 1933?) [notes: In his 1953 article in Burlington Magazine, “A Signed Drawing by Antonio Guardi and the Problem of the Guardi Brothers,” Antonio Morassi refers to the Cleveland pictures: “four canvases with scenes from the Old Testament…which twenty years ago I recognized in the Neumann Gallery as works by Guardi and which, after various vicissitudes, have recently been acquired by Cleveland.”  If Morassi’s recollection is correct, the paintings would have been with the Neumann Gallery by 1933; this date is consistent with Rodolfo Pallucchini's reference to this “recently discovered” Guardi painting in his L’arte di Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, published in 1934.]”

4. 1952 –
   (Francesco Pospisil, Venice, sold through Alessandro Brass to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
   high confidenceCleveland Museum of Art

   “(Francesco Pospisil, Venice, sold through Alessandro Brass to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (1952)”

5. 1952 –
   The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
   high confidenceCleveland Museum of Art

   “The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio (1952-)”