Riva degli Schiavoni towards the Dogana, Venice

The Grubacs (or Grubas) family, originally from Perasto (in the Gulf of Cattaro, Montenegro), settled in Venice in the second half of the eighteenth century, and Carlo, the son of a merchant marine captain named Giovanni Battista, was the first of his family to dedicate himself fully to painting, having enjoyed some success as a landscape painter. His compositions were loosely based on prototypes by Francesco Guardi and Canaletto, seen through a less sumptuous and opulent lens, and closer to the reality of Venice in the first half of the nineteenth century. Reflecting the nascent naturalism of the time, Grubacs' paintings are also more sensitive to the changing climatic conditions than those of his 18th century antecedants -- painting Venice in sun, rain and even snow.

These aspects of Grubacs' work are plainly evident here: the figures walking along the waterfront are clearly dressed in the fashions of the day. His view of the Libreria (lot 27) meanwhile, shows the city under a sky which suggests a brooding storm, quite different to the invariably benign weather preferred by Canaletto. Grubacs' pictorial formula was commercially immensely successful, resonating both with a local and international audience alike.