Italy - Liguria - Genoa // Palazzo Spinola and the Port of Genoa; (Johann Benjamin Winckler, 1700–1797) - La bella Pace et pallais, ornee de statues au Port de Gene / Palais de la famille Spinolla - 1721-1750

The print depicts a splendid, theatrical Baroque harbor scene, animated by ships and boats in the foreground, with period figures in eighteenth-century and Oriental dress strolling along the quay. On the left stands the imposing monumental architecture of an aristocratic palace adorned with statues, terraces, and grand staircases descending toward the water.
The work bears witness to a publishing practice very common in eighteenth-century Augsburg: the publisher would use the same perspectival plate of an Italian city (in this case, Habermann’s celebrated view of Palazzo Spinola in Genoa), adding different titles (such as “Venice”) along the upper margin to adapt it to the commercial demands of various European markets or to the circuits of traveling optical shows.

Condition

A very genuine and evocative impression. The original period watercolor is extraordinarily fresh, vivid, and bright, with shades of pink, sea green, and the reds of the garments. The sheet shows the usual slight signs of age and period handling along the blank margins, as well as a light, even patina that attests to the piece’s eighteenth-century authenticity.

Mounted on an antique card.