Period Venetian Portrait Painting

Details

Description

Francesco Fedeli (Venice, 1738 - 1805) called “Il Maggiotto “ great Italian painter and physicist.
Craftsman fixing chairs is taken … Read more Francesco Fedeli (Venice, 1738 - 1805) called “Il Maggiotto “ great Italian painter and physicist.
Craftsman fixing chairs is taken from one of the engravings on trades by (1740-1803) “ The Arts on the Street” , series of twelve engravings dedicated to street crafts and taken from paintings by Francesco Maggiotto.

This artwork, never before on the market, comes from an important Italian private collection and is beautified by an impressive antique frame in laquered wood, in almost perfect condition.

Francesco Fedeli, nicknamed Francesco Maggiotto or also il Maggiotto (1738 – 13 September 1805) was an Italian painter from Venice.

Francesco Maggiotto was the son of Domenico Fedeli, with whom he shared the nickname "Maggiotto"; in the early years he was trained in the same style as his father's.
At first, he was also influenced, among others, by Piazzetta, Pittoni, Tiepolo and Zuccarelli, drawing inspiration from contemporary painting styles.
The painting La Pittura e la Natura (1769) was painted in this early period, and Maggiotto offered it to the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia; today it is still stored in the Gallerie dell'Accademia.
He also imitated Pietro Longhi's style but with less irony and greater moralism.

In the following years, his painting style became more detached and the commission of works about Mythology and Religion increased.
Among other things, in 1778 he painted a series of 168 small “ Portraits of dogi", dogaresse, Venetian patriarchs, cardinals and pontiffs in oil on copper for the bibliophile Maffeo Pinelli; those paintings went lost, even though some of them could be found in the antiques market.
Later he adopted painting styles that somehow anticipated neoclassicism: this is the case of the Trionfo della Croce and the monochrome angels painted for the Scuola grande di San Giovanni Evangelista and paintings for Chiesa di San Francesco della Vigna.

Starting from the 1790s, he had a strong stylistic involution: this is the case of the Autoritratto con gli allievi Pedrini e Florian (1792).
Of considerable importance is the fact that in 1771 he was appointed master of painting in the Venetian Academy, of which he also became president (1790).
There he had, among his pupils, some painters that would become prominent of Venetian neoclassicism, such as Lattanzio Querena, Giovanni Carlo Bevilacqua, Natale Schiavoni and even Francesco Hayez.
In 1796, he was appointed "inspector of public paintings in Venice" with the aim of reporting on the state of publicly owned paintings, a public office that he held even at the beginning of the French occupation.
Maggiotto died in Venice on 13 September 1805.

Scientific interests
Maggiotto also carried out some experiments and built some machines in the field of physics, and in particular electricity; he also wrote a few works about his experiences. Furthermore, according to what can be inferred from his testament and the autobiography of one of his pupils, Giovanni Carlo Bevilacqua, He invented and built some telescopes and camerae obscurae. Due to his research, he was appointed a member of the Royal Society of London.


This artwork is shipped from Rome. Under existing legislation, any artwork in Italy created over 70 years ago by an artist who has died can requires a license for export regardless of the work’s market price. The shipping may require additional handling days to require the license according to the destination of the artwork.

Dimensions are frame included
This piece is attributed to the mentioned designer/maker. It has no attribution mark and no
official proof of authenticity,
however it is well documented in design history. I take full responsibility for any authenticity



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