(Vienna 1699–1760 Venice)
Three couples in exotic dress dancing by a fire,
oil on canvas, 46 x 64 cm, framed

Provenance:
commissioned by Field Marshal Johann Matthias Reichsgraf von der Schulenburg (1661–1747) in 1742 or 1743, Palazzo Loredan, Venice;
thence by descent to his nephew Christian Günther von der Schulenburg (1684–1765), Berlin;
thence by descent in the family;
where acquired by the present owner

Documented:
Inventario Generale della Galleria di S. E. Maresciallo Co: die Schulemburg […], 30 June 1741, Venice, [addendum] Tableaux achetés après le sudit Cattalogue: as ‘Guardi 43 [pieces] Tabl rappt: les Coutumes des Turcs 400 [Lire]’;
Quadri e Ritratti Essistenti nelle differenti Camere del Palazzo del Defonto Eccellentissimo Maresciallo. Quadri che esistono in Pallazzo di Sua Eccellenza Maresciallo in Venezia, August 1747, Venice: in the ‘Camera del Sigr Ten.te Col.o Arcoleo’ as ‘Guardi Quaranta tre quadri che rapresentano costumi dei Turchi’

Exhibited:
Berlin, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Europa und der Orient 800–1900, 28 May – 27 August 1989, no. 13/1 (as Antonio Guardi);
Venice, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Guardi. Quadri Turcheschi, 28 August – 21 November 1993, no. 11 (as Antonio Guardi);
Gorizia, Palazzo della Torre, Le meraviglie di Venezia, 2008, no. 55 (Gianantonio Guardi)

Literature:
A. Morassi, Four Newly Discovered Turkish Scenes by Antonio Guardi, in: Apollo, vol. 99, no. 146, 1974, pp. 274–276, fig. 1 (as Antonio Guardi);
G. Sievernich, H. Budde (eds.), Europa und der Orient 800–1900, exhibition catalogue, Berlin 1989, cat. no. 13/1, p. 827, pl. 899 (as Antonio Guardi, 1742/43);
A. Binion, La Galleria scomparsa del Maresciallo von der Schulenburg, Milan 1990, pp. 107, 245, 259 (as Antonio Guardi);
F. Pedrocco, F. Montecuccoli degli Erri, Antonio Guardi, Milan 1992, p. 131, no. 73, illustrated p. 212, fig. 91 (as Antonio Guardi);
A. Bettagno, Guardi. Quadri turcheschi, exhibition catalogue, Venice 1993, cat. no. 11, pp. 50–51, (as Antonio Guardi);
Annalena Delneri, in: D. Succi, A. Delneri (eds.), Le meraviglie di Venezia, exhibition catalogue, Venice 2008, cat. no. 55, pp. 176–177 (as Gianantonio Guardi)

The painting is part of the celebrated series of Turkish Scenes commissioned from Gianantonio Guardi between 1742 and 1743 by Field Marshal Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg (1661–1747).

Schulenburg, originally from Saxony, defended Corfu from Turkish assaults in 1715–1716, earning the gratitude of the Republic of Venice. In the latter part of his life, he retired to the Veneto, residing between Venice and Verona, where he died in 1747. From the 1720s onwards, Schulenburg was also a significant art collector and patron, creating an extensive gallery that included both paintings by the masters and works by contemporary artists such as Guardi, Piazzetta, Ricci, and Rosalba Carriera (see literature).

According to 18th-century inventories of his collection, the group of Turkish Scenes at Palazzo Loredan in Venice was composed of forty three paintings. However, less than half of these have been traced to date. The canvases were all approximately the same size and depicted Turkish costumes, people, architecture, and landscapes.

It is possible that to complete such a demanding commission, Gianantonio sought the help of his brother Francesco, whose hand is recognisable in some of the paintings, such as in Two Odalisques Playing Mancala in a Harem now at the Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf (inv. no. M 244). Morassi proposed a collaboration between the two artists for this commission, however today, art historians consider this series to be one of Gianantonio Guardi’s major masterpieces.

Gianantonio’s Turkish Scenes were inspired by engravings of paintings by Jean Baptiste Vanmour, published in Recueil de cent Estampes representant differentes Nations du Levant in 1714 (see figs. 1 and 2), for the Marquis de Ferriol. Bettagno (see literature) suggested that the present composition might have been directly inspired by a painting by Vanmour in Venice, similar to Greek men and women dancing the Khorra now conserved in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (inv. no. SK-A-2009).