Lot 122: FRANCESCO CHIAROTTINI CIVIDALE 1748 - 1796

PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF A CONTINENTAL NOBLE LADY

AN ARCHITECTURAL CAPRICCIO WITH ELEGANT FIGURES PROMENADING AMONG ANTIQUE RUINS, CHILDREN PLAYING SEESAW IN THE FOREGROUND

measurements note
127 by 101.7 cm.; 50 by 40 in.

oil on canvas

PROVENANCE

Acquired by the father of the late owner during the 1960s;
By whom given to the late owner during the 1970s.

NOTE

This architectural capriccio is one of very few known small-scale canvases by Francesco Chiarottini (who specialized in large scale decoration, predominantly in fresco) and can be dated to the artist's most successful period, circa 1785-90. His interest in architecture and perspective was nurtured through his apprenticeship in Venice to the architect and painter Domenico Fossati, who on a number of occasions collaborated with Giandomenico Tiepolo. Indeed Chiarottini's own style during the 1760s and 70s was largely indebted to Tiepolo, although from the 1780s onwards his figurative compositions largely gave way to his more refined architectural scenes, such as the present work. Much of the inspiration for his architectural scenes can be found in the engravings of artists such as Piranesi and Pietro Gaspari, whilst his distinctive handling reveals a fusion of the classical ruin painting tradition established in Venice during the early 18th century by Marco Ricci, with a more classicizing idiom typical of the Roman settecento painters.

In handling and type the present work can be compared closely to four large architectural capricci, which formed part of the artist's most important commission, by the Count of Pontotti, to decorate the main salon in the Palazzo Pontotti, (today Brosadola), Cividale (see M. de Grassi, Francesco Chiarottini, Friuli 1996, pp. 78-81, nos. 22b-e, reproduced), which can be dated circa 1785-90.

We are grateful to Dott. Massimo de Grassi for endorsing the attribution to Francesco Chiarottini, on the basis of a colour transparency, and for suggesting a date of execution circa 1785-1790.