Francesco Tironi, View of Venice, 1790, Oil on Canvas

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Francesco tironi (venice, circa 1745-1797)

view of venice with the church of san geremia and the ponte delle guglie

oil … Read more Francesco tironi (venice, circa 1745-1797)

view of venice with the church of san geremia and the ponte delle guglie

oil on canvas
59 x 75 cm.

framed 72 x 88 cm.

works accompanied by a descriptive note by professor e. Negro

the canvas, dating approximately to the 1790s, is attributed to the venetian view painter francesco tironi (venice, 1745-1797), demonstrating the artist's expressive talents in the mature phase of his career.

it is a view of venice, immortalizing a glimpse of the city with several palaces, a church, and a bell tower, captured at the mouth of the cannaregio canal; as evidenced by the green tree branches peeking out from behind the walls of the small garden, the canvas depicts a springtime view of the serenissima, captured from the calm waters overlooking the fork between the "canal grando, or canalaso" (on the left) and the "canal de canarégio" (on the right).

the canvas thus depicts a picturesque corner of the lagoon populated by boats and a gondola, while the figures painted on the vessels and on the dock depict merchants, sailors, and commoners. Both the architectural structures of the buildings and the gently rippling motion of the lagoon's waves have been reproduced with a sober, abridged version of reality.

in the eighteenth century, venice experienced a second "golden age" in the artistic and cultural fields. The venetian view became a highly successful pictorial genre, satisfying the needs of patrician families and nobles, especially english and german, but also french, who visited the city during their "voyage d'italie" (venice, florence, rome, naples), and those who, despite never having been to venice, wanted to decorate their residences with views of the serenissima.

alongside antonio canal, "canaletto" (1697-1768), the spearhead of view painting, a large number of artists active in the lagoon city contributed to the extraordinary development of this pictorial period. Among these are luca carvelarijs, the guardis, francesco and his son giacomo, michele marieschi, and francesco tironi, to whom the painting presented here is attributed.

our reference is supported by comparison with the painter's established works, for the similar way of setting the scenes, the shared tendency towards rendering perspective, the attention to detail in the carefully drawn architecture, the marked interplay of light and shadow, and the typology of the numerous canaletto-like figures that enliven the scene in the square.

tironi is characterized by a rather eclectic taste, which inventively blends elements drawn from canaletto or marieschi (for the typology of the 'macchiette' and the compositional layout of the views) with clear influences from guardi (for the synthetic rendering of the architectural elements, fluently defined).

regarding our view of venice with the church of san geremia, palazzo labia, and the ponte delle guglie, there are numerous similarities with other compositional works by tironi, so to confirm the proposed proposal, it is sufficient to compare it with some drawings by the venetian master (for example, the view of the island of mazzorbo and that of the islands of murano, san michele, and san cristofor, both in new york, at the robert lehman collection), as well as with the paintings depicting the view of the grand canal with the rialto bridge (ajaccio, musée fesch), the view of the brenta river (genoa, cambi casa d'aste, december 16, 2021, no. 211), and the pendant depicting the views of piazza san marco and the island of san giorgio (genoa, wannenes, march 5, 2020, no. 773).

these works, in fact, display clear stylistic analogies and similar perspective inventions also found in the our scene, a distinctive revival of early 18th-century landscape painting aimed at overcoming and simplifying the last vestiges of baroque art and a clear shift toward more subdued figurative solutions, inspired by genuinely venetian architectural forms: recurring features in francesco tironi's rewarding works.

the view, in excellent condition, is enhanced by a beautiful antique gilded and lacquered frame.

additional information:

the work is sold with a certificate of authenticity and a descriptive iconographic sheet. 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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