(Palmanova 1762–1844 Milan)
The Palazzo Ducale and the Riva degli Schiavoni, Venice,
oil on canvas, 57.5 x 79.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private collection, England;
where acquired by the present owner

The present unpublished canvas is the pendant to lot 133. It is a work by Giuseppe Bernardino Bison, an artist who beyond the compositional technicalities of view painting, was able to interpret the poetry of the moment, as the spirit of this painting and its pendant confirm.

The view in the present painting begins with the flank of Palazzo Ducale towards the Piazzetta and proceeds past the Prigioni to the distant façade of San Biagio. Traditionally the Riva degli Schiavoni was named after the Dalmatian people from the provinces of the Republic that held their markets there. In the Napoleonic period, with the opening of the Giardini Pubblici, this location became the preferred promenade in the city, with its broad panorama of the lagoon. The Ponte della Paglia, between Palazzo Ducale and the Prigioni, was transformed in 1843-44, while ornate gas-lamps were introduced along the Riva.

The composition of this work derives from an invention by Canaletto, made famous by the 1768 Brustolon edition of prints, which was first issued as plate XI (Prospectus a Columna S. Marci ad Ripam Dalmatorum vulgò de ‘Schiavoni’) in Urbis Venetiarum prospectus celebriores ex Antonii Canal tabulis XXXVIII. Aere expressi ab Antonio Visentini ..., Venice 1742. The same source was used by Francesco Guardi for various views representing the Ducal feast-days in which, as in the present work, the Bucintoro is protagonist.

As in the version by Canaletto, in the present work, the tranquillity of a Venetian afternoon is rendered austere by the presence of the Bucintoro, the most emblematic vessel with which the Doge symbolically bound the destiny of Venice to the sea. In this painting, rendered with joyful immediacy, the pictorial excellence that distinguishes Bison’s art is evident in the attention given to the sequence of architectural forms, the transparencies of the sky and sea, and the macchiette or figures executed with distinctive verve.

The artist’s lively and descriptive originality can be seen in his treatment of the Venetian architectural setting, in which the laws of perspective are opened up to the luminescent brilliance of things and people. In works such as the present one, which derives from the transcription of a view made famous by the finest view painters of the eighteenth century, the emotional register is kept neutral and reveals a preference for the objective rendering of an ‘historical’ event.

This approach must have been conditioned by the growing demand for similar artistic products, and the tastes of the upper-middle bourgeoisie of Trieste, and then of Milan. The direct simplicity of such view paintings satisfied and supported a nostalgia for those areas of Venice that were associated with the past fashion for the Grand Tour. In the new era of domestic souvenirs, Bison transformed these nostalgic views with his richly vibrant palette.

The singularity of resolve in Bison’s handling suggests that he took a personal approach to the challenge of design, compared with the exquisitely Venetian derivation of his macchia. This personal approach suggests that the present painting came from the years of the artist’s so-called anni ‘triestino-milanesi’.

Giuseppe Bernardino Bison was born in Palmanova del Friuli and when he was still a youth he entered the Venetian artistic milieu. Here, he achieved considerable success, even as a decorator of interiors. He gained the greatest acclaim, however, as a landscape and view painter, to the extent that by circa 1800 he had gained a substantial public at Trieste, a city which was then inhabited by a wealthy bourgeoisie that was attentive to collecting contemporary art. This community adopted Bison for his ability to unite the delicacy of eighteenth-century art, with a significant revitalisation of subject and style proper to the cultural renewal of the nineteenth century. With these credentials, by the time the artist reached an advanced age, he sought a new fortune and moved in 1831 to Milan. As the newspapers record, he continued to receive acclaim in this new city.

In the Lombard capital he became affiliated with the dealer Raffaello Tosoni, who procured him commissions and gained him access to the annual exhibitions in Brera. During these years Bison produced numerous works inspired by Canaletto, confirming how great the passion was, even in the most sophisticated circles of Milanese collectors, for view subjects in the eighteenth-century manner.