Scuola veneta (XIX-XX) - Scena galante a Venezia - XL format

VENETIAN SCHOOL (XIX/XX)
(Active in Venice late 1800s to early 1900s)
A gallant scene in Venice
Oil on canvas, 122 x 83 cm
Signed ‘G. FAVRETTO’ bottom left

NOTE: Note: Publication catalog of works from the Intermidiart collection. Traces of signature. Certificate of Legitimate Provenance. Work without a frame:

This excellent museological work, notable both for its artistic quality and its remarkable dimensions, depicts a gallant scene in Venice and fits into the genre of historicist genre painting, particularly appreciated in the second half of the nineteenth century, which nostalgically and with refined theatricality recalled eighteenth-century Venice.
The lady in a white dress and the gentleman with a powdered wig and pinkish jacket embody the ideal of Venetian gallantry of the eighteenth century, the era of Giacomo Casanova and Carlo Goldoni. On the right, the dynamic figure of the gondolier, dressed in red, provides an effective popular and theatrical counterpoint to the composed aristocratic elegance of the couple.
The gondola is not merely a means of transport but takes on a precise iconographic value, evoking reserve, mystery, and intimacy. The typical removable covered cabin, the felze (here clad in red), was used to protect passengers from prying eyes as well as from the weather, contributing to the romantic and conspiratorial atmosphere of the scene.
The palace dominates the composition with its pointed arches and quatrefoil tracery, clearly inspired by famous Venetian architectures such as the Doge’s Palace and Ca’ d’Oro. In the nineteenth-century imagination, Venetian Gothic is not just a scenic backdrop but becomes the very symbol of the historical and monumental grandeur of the Serenissima.
The spontaneous and lush vegetation that invades the arcades also introduces the theme of the picturesque and the decadent, particularly dear to the Romantic sensibility of the nineteenth century, which saw in ancient monuments the charm of history and time.
The view of the Grand Canal and the silhouette of the Rialto Bridge in the background place the scene in an iconic and immediately recognizable geography, transforming a private life episode into a true celebration of “Venetianess.”
From a technical standpoint, the author shows influence from the Veneto Verismo movement, adopting an innovative painting style that surpasses the rigidity of academic conventions. The “spot” color application indeed gives the painting a vibrant materiality: the outlines dissolve in favor of rapid, bold, and luminous brushstrokes, capable of conveying with extraordinary effectiveness the changing reflections of the lagoon water.
Also particularly refined is the chromatic preciousness, obtained through bold color juxtapositions, such as the bright red of the felze and the gondolier’s jacket, set in sharp contrast with the browns, golds, and grayish-pearlescent tones of the architecture. These intense color schemes recall the luminous, shifting effect of Venetian mosaics, characteristic of late nineteenth-century lagoon painting.
Moreover, the rendering of light is not uniform but constructed through strong light-dark contrasts, also the result of studying Flemish and Dutch painting of the seventeenth century. In the painting, the figures and water reflections emerge from the deep shadow of the Gothic loggia with extraordinary immediacy, giving the entire composition vitality, spatial depth, and a strong visual involvement.
Overall, the work manages to evoke with remarkable effectiveness the atmosphere of eighteenth-century Venice through an elegant, lively scene rich in narrative suggestions. The skilful orchestration of light, the refined drawing quality, the chromatic virtuosity, and the poetic rendering of architecture and water transform the historical recollection into an aesthetically intense experience that can still engage the viewer and restore the timeless charm of the Serenissima.
Regarding its conservation state, the canvas presents generally quite decent conditions given the painting’s age; the surface exhibits a patina, and the overall image reads well under a clear varnish. Visible on the surface, the painting shows no major recent restorations or abrasions. On infrared examination, the canvas and the signature appear to be contemporaneous with the reference period (late 19th to early 20th century). The condition report we provide should be understood as accurate and scrupulous but still partial and not entirely exhaustive, as it was not performed in specialized laboratories with specific technical equipment. In daylight, a fine craquelure related to the period and some spots of pigment loss are visible (as in the photo). The dimensions of the canvas are 122 x 83 cm.
The painting is sold without a frame, although it is further embellished by a beautiful contemporaneous frame (?) made in finely worked gold leaf.

PROVENANCE: Private Collection

PUBLICATION:
 Unpublished;
 I MYTHS AND THE TERRITORY in Sicily of a thousand cultures. UNPUBLISHED QUADRERIA, general catalog of the paintings from the cycle “The Myths and the Territory,” Editor Lab_04, Marsala, 2026 (Pdf).

The work will be shipped with a wooden crate and polystyrene insulation. In case of sale outside Italian territory, the buyer must wait for the export paperwork to be processed.