(Venice, 1853–1921)
The visit, signed Rinaldo Giudici,
oil on canvas, 95 x 140 cm, framed, (GG)

Provenance:
Private Collection, Italy.

Catalogued and illustrated in: Catalogo Bolaffi della pittura italiana dell’Ottocento, no. 6, Bolaffi, Turin 1976, p. 158.

This broad and animated view is one of Rinaldo Giudici’s most famous compositions of the everyday life of the Venetian people, in which an elegant young woman is visiting most probably a couple of friends.A gondolier is helping her disembark.
They are well-dressed with colourful and elaborate wardrobes. The viewer’s eyes are drawn especially to the two women in their brightly-coloured costumes.
Giudici was eager to capture the daily activities of the people in Venice.

Though born in Lenno, Como, Giudici moved to Uruguay in 1861 with his father.
Little is known of Giudici’s early training, although he began his artistic career in Montevideo in the studio of Juan Manuel Blanes.
He then left Montevideo for Buenos Aires to study under Francisco Romero, who taught at the Academy of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires.

Thanks to a grant, he later went to Italy. He settled in Venice between 1880 and 1885, where he studied under Giacomo Favretto at the Venice Academy of Fine Arts.
The city held a tremendous fascination for Giudici.
There, he painted several paintings such as “la Tradita”, which was acquired by the Italian government for the new National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome along with pictures by Giacomo Favretto, Filippo Carcano, Giovanni Fattori and Telemaco Signorini.
He returned to Argentina in 1885, where he received the highest honours for a painter.

The present lot, which is a particularly fine example, can be dated between 1880-1885, which corresponds to the artist’s most creative period.