Giovanni (1746) Galliari Sold at Auction Prices

GIOVANNINO GALLIARI ANDORNO 1746 - 1818 TREVIGLIO

A CLASSICAL INTERIOR WITH A SEMI-DOME SURMOUNTING A COLONNADE WITH ELEGANT FIGURES AND SOLDIERS; A VIEW THROUGH AN OPEN VAULTED LOGGIA TOWARDS A FORTIFIED HARBOUR; A CURVED ITALIANATE PIAZZA WITH AN OBELISK AND ROUND TEMPLE; A PALATIAL INTERIOR WITH TAPESTRIES DECORATING THE WALLS measurements note each: 66.5 by 91 cm.; 26 1/4 by 35 7/8 in. a set of four, all oil on canvas Quantity: 4 PROVENANCE With Marco Datrino, Torre Canavese, 1995 (as Giovannino Galliari). EXHIBITED Turin, Lingotto, Arte Antica '95. Biennale di Antiquariato, 1995 (as Giovannino Galliari). NOTE The Galliari were a family of artists who specialised in painting set designs or scenografie; a genre in which the architects Ferdinando Galli Bibiena (1657-1743) and Filippo Juvarra (1678-1736) had already excelled. The tradition was led by Giovanni (c.1672-1722) and continued by his more gifted sons Fabrizio (1709-1790) and Bernardino (1707-1794) as well as, to a lesser degree, Giovanni Antonio (1714-1783). Their respective sons went on to design sets well into the 19th century; namely Giovanni Antonio's son Gaspare (1761-1823) and Fabrizio's sons Giuseppino (1752-1817) and Giovannino (1746-1818), the latter to whom this set of four architectural capricci have traditionally been attributed. Given the transient nature of set designs made for theatrical productions, very little of the Galliaris' painted oeuvre survives. There are, however, numerous drawings and watercolours by various members of the family, some of which are still bound in their original albums and held in Italian public collections (see, for example, those in the Pinacoteca, Bologna; Accademia di Brera, Milan; Museo Teatrale alla Scala, Milan; the Fondazione Pogliaghi, Varese; and Museo Civico, Turin). The Galliaris were extremely prolific and their sketches record countless ideas for architectural capricci and ornamental gardens designed for sets and backdrops. The albums are likely to have remained within the Galliari family workshop so it is not surprising to find certain motifs reappearing in designs by Gaspare, Giuseppino and Giovannino, or indeed in the present set of paintings. The semi-dome surmounting a colonnade may have been inspired by Bernardino and Fabrizio Galliari's design for a Temple dedicated to Hercules in La Vittoria d'Imeneo, performed at the Teatro Regio in Turin in 1750 and recorded in an engraving by J.P. Le Bas (the Galliaris' original drawing is in the Biblioteca Reale, Turin, and is reproduced in M. Viale Ferrero, La scenografia del '700 e i fratelli Galliari, Turin 1963, p. 132, fig. 35. For another drawing of a similar architectural motif see ibid., p. 133, fig. 36). The curved Italianate piazza with rounded temple may also be inspired by a Fabrizio Galliari design, for it closely resembles (in reverse) an idea for the Piazza di Messene for the production of Merope in the Teatro Regio, Turin, in 1775 (the original sheet is in the Pinacoteca, Bologna, and is reproduced in ibid., p. 184, fig. 81). The view through the open loggia to a harbour beyond may have been inspired by Fabrizio Galliari's design for the open loggie in Calipso, performed at the Teatro Regio, Turin, in 1777 (drawing in Museo Civico, Turin, reproduced in ibid., p. 188, plate XXI). The function of these four pictures is not entirely clear: they may have been painted to provide more detailed information (such as colour schemes) or for approval by the theatre directors. Another possibility, albeit less likely, is that they were produced as ricordi to record the appearance of sets after the actual theatre designs had been destroyed.