(Venice 1824–1890)
Venice, Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo, signed, inscribed and dated Luigi Querena Venezia, 1863, oil on canvas, 65 x 88 cm, framed, (GG)

Exhibited:
Venice, Palazzo Quereni, Venezia in Chiaro, dialoghi e silenzi nella pittuara tra Ottocento e Novecento, 1 Novembre 2018 – 13 January 2019.

Catalogued and illustrated in:
Venezia in Chiaro, dialoghi e silenzi nella pittura tra Ottocento e Novecento, ed. by Luisa Turchi and Stefano Cecchetto, Venice, p. 107, no. 32.

The vista focuses on the Rio dei Mendicanti in the foreground, the Scuola Grande of San Marco in the background and the Basilica di San Giovanni e Paolo, the principal Dominican church in Venice. Twenty-five doges are buried in this church.
The square is home to Andrea del Verrocchio‘s famous equestrian statue of the condottiere Bartolomeo Colleoni, which was finished in 1496.

Luigi Querena studied at Venice’s Academy of Fine Arts, under Federico Moja (see lot 546). He specialised in topographically accurate, traditional paintings of Venetian vistas, such as the present lot. He painted this view on several occasions. Indeed, it was popular among a large number of tourists visiting Venice, many of them British.