Scuola italiana del XX secolo, da Canaletto - Capriccio: Il Ponte di Rialto e la Chiesa di S. Giorgio Maggiore

\Artist: Scuola italiana del XX secolo, da Canaletto
Technique: Oil on canvas\Signature: Not signed\Dimensions: 114_12_84_cm
20th-century Italian painter. (Copy from Giovanni Antonio Canal, known as Canaletto) . Capriccio: Il Ponte di Rialto e la Chiesa di S. Giorgio Maggiore. Oil on canvas, 90 x 60 cm - Not signed. Size with frame: approx. 104 x 74 x 6 cm. Notes: not signed. With certificate of lawful origin. With black and gilded wooden frame. " . . . Beautiful antique-style painting, oil on canvas, depicting a beautiful view with “Capriccio: Il Ponte di Rialto e la Chiesa di S. Giorgio Maggiore”. In the 19th and 20th century some anonymous painters experimented with the art of "copying" the great masters of the past. One of them was Canaletto, although his photographic painting style remains unparalleled. The painter who created this work, of course, did not want to make use of the master's technique, but he managed to paint this famous view of Venice with talent, making us rediscover it in one of the beautiful dawns on the Lagoon. The wonderful panoramic view of the scene was one of the most replicated and loved subjects by Antonio Canal, known as Canaletto (Venice, 1697-1768) during his long artistic career, and was later taken up by other skilled successors, to this day. This image refers to the original ‘Capriccio: Il Ponte di Rialto e la Chiesa di S. Giorgio Maggiore’, (Canaletto, 1750, oil on canvas, 167. 6 x 114. 3 cm, North Carolina Museum of Art) , the model for a huge number of other masterpieces. The boats and characters sometimes change, and the point of view captured with the “camera ottica” also changes. The result, however, is always extraordinary and perfect. This view unfolds before the eyes of the observer a single frame of three famous monuments from different areas of Venice: the Rialto Bridge and the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore, located on an island at the entrance of the Grand Canal. The Italian word ‘capriccio’, meaning whim or fantasy, is used to describe these imaginative compositions. The work reproduced here describes buildings, objects and figures with perfection and balance, accurately showing the nuances of the elusive and changing relationship between light and architecture. The construction is very rigorous: all the main lines converge towards a single point on the horizon, almost in the centre of the composition, highlighting the spatial depth. Canaletto focuses on every detail, nothing is treated as a secondary element and every portion of the painting can be seen as an authentic picture in the picture. The human figures, although they have very small proportions, are also rendered with a wealth of details with small vibrant brushstrokes and stand out clearly on the canvas. The work of vedutismo can therefore be read both as a whole with a quick glance, as well as analysed following the details, even those seemingly more insignificant, which also convey all the magic present in the painting. Canaletto's poetic is made of precision, but not adhering to reality, it describes an ideal, bright and perfect world. The canvas is a snapshot of daily life and, as in many other works of Canaletto, we can feel the temperature, its degree of humidity, the slight breeze that moves the air. All sensations that no modern photograph can give. Those who look at a photograph know that it is a photograph, but those who look at a work by Canaletto such as this one and pause carefully, will have the feeling of perceiving reality concretely. The secret lies in painting with a free, simplified style that will then be reworked by the mind of the observer, generating an impression of truth. It is the same approach that Claude Monet will use over a century after Canaletto, with whom he shared the sense of light and the simplicity of the lines that represent it. It is therefore the brain that puts the image back together, because as we well know we do not see with the eyes but with the mind. And all this results in an image than is truer than a photograph. The painting offered here is characterized by a perspective approach identical to that of the museum versions. The similarities extend to the boats, figures and a general chromatic affinity, although they differ in size. The view, characterised by a fairly good executive level, is attributable to a contemporary artist who observed Canaletto – active towards the first half of the twentieth century – who was able to skilfully render the characteristics of the style and atmosphere of the view preserved in various museums. The canvas is in rather fair overall condition. There are no conservation issues and it does not seem to require restoration. Canvas size: 90 x 60 cm. The painting, of good pictorial quality, comes with a handcrafted gilt and black lacquered wooden frame, purposely made in a workshop for the work (frame size: approx. 104 x 74 x 6 cm) . Origin: private collection. Publication: \t. Unpublished; \t. I MITI E IL TERRITORIO nella Sicilia dalle mille culture. INEDITA QUADRERIA general catalogue of the paintings in the collection of the cycle ‘I Miti e il territorio’, Editore Lab_04, Marsala, (now printing, 2021) . We guarantee accurate packaging with outer wooden crate and inner bubble wrap / cardboard / polystyrene (packaging cost: approximately €100. 00) and tracked shipping (€100. 00 Italy) . For export, the work is subject to a new request for Certificate of Free Circulation (European Community) or Export Certificate (Extra-EU Transport) at the export office (Soprintendenza del Territorio) with additional times and costs (€300/€500, all inclusive: shipping, packaging, and export documents) .