(Palmanova 1762–1844 Milan)
The Bacino di San Marco with San Giorgio Maggiore and the Giudecca, Venice,
oil on canvas, 53.5 x 82.5 cm, framed

We are grateful to Fabrizio Magani for confirming the attribution of the present painting.

The present painting derives from an engraving by Dionisio Valesi published between 1778 and 1779 which in turn derives from a drawing by Francesco Guardi representing San Giorgio Maggiore in the Walter Burns collection, London.

This work belongs to the early years of Bison’s career, and certainly to within the eighteenth century, when the artist specialised as an easel painter of views and landscapes, retracing the steps of the great tradition of Venetian painting. Yet this picture also signals a renewal of the received tradition for the new century, responding to the new taste of the bourgeoisie who desired mementos of the previous century’s golden age. During the last decade of the eighteenth century Bison worked in various cities in the Veneto and Friuli, also asserting himself as a talented fresco painter. Following a period of thirty years working from Trieste, in 1831 he moved definitively to Milan where he concluded the final years of his successful career.