Giuseppe Bernardino Bison

Anonymous sale, Milan, Finarte, 22 November 2000, lot 264;

Acquired subsequently by the present owner.

Possibly Milan, Esposizione delle Belle Arti in Brera, 1842.

Possibly G. Elena, Guida critica all'esposizione delle belle arti in Brera, exh. cat., Milan 1842, p. 41.

In his execution of this vibrant view, Giuseppe Bernardino Bison, following in the footsteps of Luca Carlevarijs (1663–1730),¹ Canaletto (1697–1768) and Francesco Guardi (1712–1793),² depicts a quintessentially Venetian tradition: the Ascension Day ceremony of the Bucintoro. Every year, the majestic state barge – visible in the present painting in all of its crimson glory – carried the Doge out into the Adriatic Sea to perform the Sposalizio del Mare. This symbolic marriage between the water and the city of Venice, which required the Doge to cast a golden ring into the sea, symbolised La Serenissima's unique connection with the lagoon and commemorated the Republic's maritime victories.

Datable around 1840, this painting is based on an engraving by Giambattista Brustolon (1718–1796), which was published by Lodovico Furlanetto (1700–1798) between 1766 and 1774. The engraving, in turn, was inspired by drawings by Canaletto.

We are grateful to Dario Succi for endorsing the attribution to Bison on the basis of digital images.

¹ See, for instance, the grand picture by Carlevarijs in the Getty Museum, Los Angeles: object no. 86.PA.600; oil on canvas, 134.8 x 259.4 cm.; https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/103RKB.

² A superb treatment of this subject by Canaletto is today in the Royal Collection, London: inv. no. RCIN 404417; oil on canvas, 76.8 x 125.4 cm.; https://www.rct.uk/collection/search#/32/collection/404417/the-bacino-di-san-marco-on-ascension-day. An example by Guardi is in the Musée du Louvre, Paris: inv. no. 20009, oil on canvas, 66 x 101 cm.; https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010062245.