Imago Spectaculi, quod in Foro D. Marci Magnis Russie Ducibus [...] IX. Febr. MDCCLXXXII
| Reference: | S42511 |
| Author | Giacomo Leonardis |
| Year: | 1782 |
| Measures: | 725 x 470 mm |
€1,500.00
| Reference: | S42511 |
| Author | Giacomo Leonardis |
| Year: | 1782 |
| Measures: | 725 x 470 mm |
€1,500.00
Description
Imago Spectaculi, quod in Foro D. Marci Magnis Russie Ducibus Nicolaus et Philippus Calbus Sapientes Aerario Prefecti ex S.C. exhibuerunt IX. Febr. MDCCLXXXII. (Entertainments in St. Mark's Square for the Grand Duke and Duchess of Russia, 24 January 1782)
Etching with engraving, 1782, after Giacomo Fossati.
Lettered with title and production details in Latin and French, including the name of the director of the event, Antonio Codognato
Procession of floats drawn by teams of eight oxen parade round an arena constructed in St. Mark's Square, Venice, 1782. It depicts a sumptuous historical procession in St. Mark's Square, festively decorated for the visit of the Grand Dukes of Russia to the city on 24 January 1782.
'In January 1782, the Russian princes Paolo Petrovich and his wife Maria Teodorovna were guests of Venice. The programme of festivities organised in their honour was particularly intense: in addition to the regattas on the Grand Canal, the S. Benedetto theatre was set up for the dinner and ball; an arena was built in St. Mark's Square to host the parades of allegorical floats and the bull hunt. The general direction of the organisation was entrusted to the 'Nobili Saggi' Nicolò Michiel and Filippo Calbo, who availed themselves of the work of architect Giannantonio Selva and set designers Antonio Mauro and Antonio Codognato to realise the complex apparatus required for the events.
This work by Leonardis, based on a drawing by Domenico Fossati, offers us the unusual image of St. Mark's Square transformed into an arena with the construction of a large amphitheatre, closed towards the basilica by a Baroque triumphal arch and towards St. Geminiano by a posterned palace façade. A procession of five ox-drawn allegorical floats depicting the Triumph of Peace parades in the arena.
The view engraved by Leonardis is very similar to the drawing by Francesco Guardi, Parades of allegorical floats in St. Mark's Square from the Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin. The preparatory drawing of the painting in the Cini collection (Morassi, 1973, 1. no. 257) bears the inscription Franc. Guardi delin; the author probably intended it for engraving' (cf. Succi in 'Da Carlevaris ai Tiepolo', 1983, p. 212).
Leonardis was born in Palmanova on 9 March 1723. In 1741, he moved to Venice, to the school of Giambattista Tiepolo and was awarded a prize in the year the Accademia del Nudo was established. In 1745, he switched to copperplate engraving and probably worked in the workshop of Joseph Wagner, present in Venice since 1739, the main architect of the redevelopment of the art of engraving and illustrated publishing. He was above all an engraver of reproduction (translation of other people's inventions), alone or through a draughtsman; more rarely he was a 'peintre-graveur', an engraver of invention (from a drawing of his own creation). The technical innovation of combining etching and burin in copperplate engraving is his. Appreciated for his confidence with the burin and his ability to transpose the original with exactness and with fidelity to the pictorial values in the contrasts of light and dark, the artist often bordered on excessive virtuosity. But he was also able to demonstrate autonomy and 'creative flair' in both technique and interpretation of the work. His experience of extraordinary graphic richness in the studio of the Tiepolos had predisposed him to the translative sensitivity of the specific chromatic qualities of Giambattista and Giandomenico's originals, the highlight of his endeavours. He produced loose prints and prints for album and book illustrations, reproducing works that differed in date, subject and style: paintings and drawings from private collections by, among others, Tintoretto, Giulio Carpioni, Giuseppe Crespi, Sebastiano and Marco Ricci, and Pietro Tempesta, as well as works created specifically by his contemporaries to be reproduced.
Beautiful proof, printed on a large contemporary laid paper (a large royal sheet), trimmed to copperplate, minor oxidation, otherwise in good condition.
Rare commemorative print.
Bibliografia
Rodolfo Gallo, 'L'incisione nel '700 a Venezia e a Bassano', Venice 1941, p. 50; M.L.Frangia in Arte Veneta 1971, Giacomo Leonardi, incisore di riproduzione; Dario Succi in 'Da Carlevaris ai Tiepolo', 1983, pp. 194-217, n. 249.
Giacomo Leonardis (Palmanova 1723 - Venezia 1797)
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He was born in Palmanova on 9 March 1723 to Giovanni Battista and Anna Frigali. Orphaned, he was raised by a religious uncle who understood his inclination for drawing and placed him for an initial apprenticeship at home in the workshop of Pietro Bainville, a painter and portraitist of French origin. In 1741, he moved to Venice, to the school of Giambattista Tiepolo and was awarded a prize in the year the Accademia del Nudo was established. No works of his from this period are known. In 1745, he switched to copperplate engraving and probably worked in the workshop of Joseph Wagner (present in Venice since 1739, the main architect of the redevelopment of the art of engraving and illustrated publishing). In 1750 he was already working independently, perhaps at home in Cannaregio (Corte dei Grassi), when he engraved the portrait of Maria Crucifixa Satellico for the opening of the first chapter of the Life of the Franciscan Nun written by G.B. Scaramelli. He was commissioned to engrave the invitation cards of the Venetian Public Academy (to which some members of the Venetian Guild of Engravers and, among the first, G.B. Tiepolo were admitted from 1756). He was above all an engraver of reproduction (translation of other people's inventions), alone or through a draughtsman; more rarely he was a 'peintre-graveur', an engraver of invention (from a drawing of his own creation). The technical innovation of combining etching and burin in copperplate engraving is his. Appreciated for his confidence with the burin and his ability to transpose the original with exactness and with fidelity to the pictorial values in the contrasts of light and dark, the artist often bordered on excessive virtuosity. But he was also able to demonstrate autonomy and 'creative flair' in both technique and interpretation of the work. His experience of extraordinary graphic richness in the studio of the Tiepolos had predisposed him to the translative sensitivity of the specific chromatic qualities of Giambattista and Giandomenico's originals, the highlight of his endeavours. He produced loose prints and prints for album and book illustrations, reproducing works that differed in date, subject and style: paintings and drawings from private collections by, among others, Tintoretto, Giulio Carpioni, Giuseppe Crespi, Sebastiano and Marco Ricci, and Pietro Tempesta, as well as works created specifically by his contemporaries to be reproduced.
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Giacomo Leonardis (Palmanova 1723 - Venezia 1797)
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He was born in Palmanova on 9 March 1723 to Giovanni Battista and Anna Frigali. Orphaned, he was raised by a religious uncle who understood his inclination for drawing and placed him for an initial apprenticeship at home in the workshop of Pietro Bainville, a painter and portraitist of French origin. In 1741, he moved to Venice, to the school of Giambattista Tiepolo and was awarded a prize in the year the Accademia del Nudo was established. No works of his from this period are known. In 1745, he switched to copperplate engraving and probably worked in the workshop of Joseph Wagner (present in Venice since 1739, the main architect of the redevelopment of the art of engraving and illustrated publishing). In 1750 he was already working independently, perhaps at home in Cannaregio (Corte dei Grassi), when he engraved the portrait of Maria Crucifixa Satellico for the opening of the first chapter of the Life of the Franciscan Nun written by G.B. Scaramelli. He was commissioned to engrave the invitation cards of the Venetian Public Academy (to which some members of the Venetian Guild of Engravers and, among the first, G.B. Tiepolo were admitted from 1756). He was above all an engraver of reproduction (translation of other people's inventions), alone or through a draughtsman; more rarely he was a 'peintre-graveur', an engraver of invention (from a drawing of his own creation). The technical innovation of combining etching and burin in copperplate engraving is his. Appreciated for his confidence with the burin and his ability to transpose the original with exactness and with fidelity to the pictorial values in the contrasts of light and dark, the artist often bordered on excessive virtuosity. But he was also able to demonstrate autonomy and 'creative flair' in both technique and interpretation of the work. His experience of extraordinary graphic richness in the studio of the Tiepolos had predisposed him to the translative sensitivity of the specific chromatic qualities of Giambattista and Giandomenico's originals, the highlight of his endeavours. He produced loose prints and prints for album and book illustrations, reproducing works that differed in date, subject and style: paintings and drawings from private collections by, among others, Tintoretto, Giulio Carpioni, Giuseppe Crespi, Sebastiano and Marco Ricci, and Pietro Tempesta, as well as works created specifically by his contemporaries to be reproduced.
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