Giacomo Caneva, um 1813 Padua – 1865/90 Rom Italienischer Vedutist, der sich später der Fotografie zuwandte. Der Maler ist einer der seltenen Künstlerpersönlichkeiten, die an der Wende zwischen Malere…
PIAZZA SAN MARCO IN VENICE WITH BASILIKA AND CLOCK TOWER
oil on copper.
59,5 x 87 cm.
Signed lower left.

The Venice veduta shows the view of Piazza San Marco towards the north side with the clock tower, framed by the adjacent buildings with round-arched gallery passage. On the right, illuminated by the western light, the façade of St. Mark's Church, on the left the loggetta by the architect Jacopo Sansovino. The square is loosely decorated with figures, mostly arranged in groups, among them men in conversation, long dressed ladies emerging from the cathedral or a mother with child. The preference for an exact perspective representation, which corresponds completely to the photographer's realistic view, is already striking here. In the lower left of the picture the equally original, but for the painter typical figural signature, in the form of a running puppy, which in the figurative sense corresponds to the name of the painter (Caneva = Cane va = a walking dog).
Provenance:
San Marco Casa d'aste, Importanti dipinti e disegni di antichi maestri, Venice July 2006 (1222161) (11)


Giacomo Caneva,
ca. 1813 Padua - 1865/90 Rome
Italian veduta painter who also turned to photography later in his career.
He trained initially at the Biblioteca dell'Accademia di Belle Arti in Venice, specialised in perspective and ornament design and then concentrated on landscape and veduta painting. 1848 was a turning point for Caneva's œuvre. From then on, he had a completely new, photographic approach to the towns' architecture and monuments.
PIAZZA SAN MARCO IN VENICE WITH BASILICA AND CLOCK TOWER
Oil on copper.
59.5 x 87 cm.
Signed lower left.

Provenance:
San Marco, Casa d'aste, Importanti dipinti di antichi maestri, Venice July 2006.