Description
Francesco Zanin (Italian, 1824-1884)
The Piazza San Marco, Venice, in the early hours of the last evening of carnival, 1865
Signed and dated 'Zanin Fran:co 1865' (lower right) and with remains of extensive inscription 'co... / .e de la N.tt. 20. Febbr.io 18.. / .... .... .... Vene.ia' (lower left)
oil on canvas
76 x 122in. (193 x 309.9 cm.)
Footnotes
Provenance
Edward Jurak, Vienna, c. 1930.
According to family tradition brought to the USA from Vienna after the Second World War.
Exhibited
Venice, Accademia di Belle Arti, 1865, as Piazza di S. Marco nelle prime ore dell'ultima notte di carnevale nel 1865.
Literature
S. Manfrini, 'Pubblica mostra dell'I.R. Accademia', Gazzetta ufficiale di Venezia, no. 208, 12 settembre 1865.
L. Moretti, 'Francesco Zanin (1824-1884), vedutista veneziano', Arte Veneta, 68 (2011), 2012, p. 289.
This view of the Piazza San Marco, untraced since its exhibition in Venice in 1865, is surely by far the most ambitious work by Francesco Zanin, who is known above all for his leading role in feeding the demand for Canalettesque views of Venice well into the last quarter of the nineteenth century. An artist of considerable ability, interest in his work has increased significantly in recent years. He was the subject of a monographic exhibition in 2008 (Francesco Zanin: Un "Canaletto" nell'Ottocento, Caiati & Salamon, Milan, 2008; catalogue by Fabrizio Magani), following which the correct dates of his birth and death were first published in 2010, and even more recently Professor Lino Moretti has provided a detailed analysis of current knowledge of his life and career (L. Moretti, op. cit., pp. 284-91). The only contemporary account of Zanin is a memorial oration given by Domenico Fadiga, the secretary of the Venetian Accademia di Belle Arti shortly after the painter's death. Fadiga says that Zanin was by nature 'timid, closed and reserved', and that this was reflected in his work, which was notable for its scrupulous attention to detail. 'He had begun with some copies after Canaletto; then he gathered courage and moved on to imitations'. Fadiga tells us that 'twenty years ago' [i.e. around 1865 when this painting was executed] Zanin's paintings 'not only featured in all the art exhibitions, but, and this is far more telling, almost always one saw underneath the annotation: sold'. [Purchasers of paintings by Zanin in 1865 included the local grandees Countess Faustina Albrizzi Marcello and Prince Giuseppe Giovanelli]. Fashion had changed dramatically, however, in the twenty years since. The painter was a 'man of regulated life, simple dress, and modest desires, and I think that selling two paintings a year, even if for low prices, would have given him enough for twelve months, but as time passed even this help little by little fell away ...'. Zanin fell into decline and, refusing charity, he died effectively of starvation on Christmas Day in 1884 at the age of sixty.
Many of Zanin's paintings are copies of eighteenth century Venetian views, above all of the view of The Rio dei Mendicanti and the Scuola di San Marco, which entered the Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice in 1856 and was considered the work of Canaletto until 1958, when it was prevalently recognised as an early work by Bernardo Bellotto. Several examples of Zanin's copies of this have been on the London art market in recent years (see, for instance, Magani, op. cit., colour figs. 1 and 10). Zanin, surprisingly, numbered them, which indicates that he executed no fewer than thirty-five examples. He also made at least five copies of the Capriccio of a Portico which was Canaletto's reception piece for the Accademia, the only work by him readily accessible in Venice until recent decades (see, for instance, ibid., colour fig. 9). A view of The Piazza San Marco from the Campo di San Basso after a Canaletto composition was sold at Christie's South Kensington, London, 12 December 2003, lot 282 (for these copies see Moretti, op. cit., p. 287).
As Fadiga indicated, Zanin moved on from copying Canaletto to executing original compositions in an eighteenth century manner with figures in period costume, such as The Punta di Dogana, Venice, with the Regatta in Honour of Edward, Duke of York, 4 June 1764 of 1865 (Art Market, 2003-4 and 2015), and The Bucintoro returning to the Molo on Ascension Day, dated 1888 (Christie's, London, 14 June 1996, lot 132). A variant of that painting is in the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria attributed to Canaletto, but would seem to be also the work of Zanin (exhibited Vancouver Art Gallery, Musée du Québec, and Agnes Etherington Art Centre, 18th Century Venetian Art in Canadian Collections, 1989-90, no. 21, illustrated in colour). Like his copies, these are (or were) usually prominently signed in red, and in exhibitions they were often described as 'Imitation of Canaletto' to distinguish them from those listed as 'Copy after Canaletto'.
The present painting belongs to the third, and the most interesting, category of Zanin's work, consisting also of Venetian views but in a more contemporary style and with figures in contemporary dress. Also notable among these is The Piazza and Piazzetta San Marco, looking South, with a Firework Display, signed and dated 1877 and showing the gaslights around the Piazza and Piazzetta which were inaugurated in 1873 (Christie's, New York, 17 October 2006, lot 63). They are relatively scarce, and, from what S. Manfrini tells us in his review of the 1865 exhibition at the Accademia di Belle Arti (quoted in full by Moretti, loc. cit.) the present painting was the only example among Zanin's twelve exhibits that year. Zanin's paintings are mostly quite small, and the enormous size of this canvas makes it exceptional in the artist's œuvre. His capture of the atmosphere of a wintry evening in the Piazza makes it one of his greatest masterpieces, and reinforces his status as one of the most gifted and interesting of the Venetian view painters active in the nineteenth century.
We are grateful to Charles Beddington for providing this catalogue note.
