Venetian Vedutism in twenty-five masterpieces
Exquisite depictions of historical events and landscapes make up a collection of works resulting from five decades of private collecting, now visible to the public in the exhibition “Views of Venice. Paintings from 1700 to 1800” (Views of Venice. Paintings from 1700 to 1800), a veritable summary of two hundred years of masterpieces that celebrate the pictorial art of Venetian Vedutism and the golden age of La Serenissima.
Bellotto, Richter, Guardi, Fabris, and Zanin are among the most fascinating masterpieces belonging to the solicitor and collector Ernesto Trivoli who opens the doors of his art gallery in the heart of Milan from 9 November to 3 December, in a particularly significant moment that heralds recovery from a pandemic that has not yet ended by opening the treasure chests and vaults to give life to a show that present views of Venice between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that are prominent on the international art scene.
The indelible testimony and absolute value of Bernardo Bellotto, very rare paintings by Jacopo Fabris, Johan Richter’s San Marco, the panoramas of William James, a student of Canaletto, and the highly sought-after Guardi are some of the leading names and works in this “beautiful exhibition,” as Trivoli defines it. An exhibition in which the works of Josef Carl Berthold Puttner are a sight to behold, and include a majestic sunset that floods Punta della Dogana and Santa Maria della Salute with light.
Then there is an absolute gem that has never appeared publicly, one of the most singular representations of the history of Venice as a landscape painting: it is the launch of the first hot-air balloon from San Marco in 1784, a year after the success of the Montgolfier brothers, an oil on canvas by Francesco Zanin, described as the “launch of an aerostatic globe built by SE Francesco Pesaro, procurator of San Marco of the Zanchi brothers”, in which the aerostat “from the Grand Canal” can be seen taking off from a pontoon specially built in the San Marco basin. For the record, the experiment was successful, and the hot-air balloon, with no people on board, after a flight of over two hours settled on the sand bar of the lagoon.
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“In a context in which Milan can breathe once again - comments the antique dealer in robes Ernesto Trivoli - our gallery intends to offer my personal collection to established or novice collectors, enthusiasts, professionals, artists, international visitors, journalists and home designers, acquired over the years with love and skill.”
The prestigious painting by Carlo Grubacs which depicts the passage of the Bucintoro in front of the Doge’s Palace, accompanied, awaited and celebrated by hundreds of people, is magnificent for the bright colours and the surgical precision with which many of the details are illustrated.
“Vedute di Venezia. Dipinti dal 1700 al 1800” opens to the city with free admission and is the first monothematic exhibition celebrating a heritage of extraordinary beauty and great artistic and cultural value. Aristocratic palaces and beggars, ladies and scoundrels, workers and nobility, sailors and people looking out from balconies, pimps and prostitutes, and then glimpses and towers, gondolas and festivities, trades and markets, everyday life and small squares, architecture and crowds: figure by figure, detail after detail, a roundup of characters, personalities, perspectives, and atmospheres to be appreciated.
Published on Claudia Chiari's Blog