Venetian School
Bissona del N.H.M. Sier Pietro Pisani Proc:, fatta li 27. Maggio 1775. Venetia
Bissona del N.H. Sier Luane Pesero Fatta li 7 Maggio 1775: in Venezia
Bissona del N.H.M Lodovico Manin Procr. Fatta li 7 Maggio-1775. Venezia
Venice: May 1775
Watercolor and gouache on laid paper each with two elaborate watermarks
20 x 31.25 inches overall, average
Sold, please inquire as to the availability of similar items.
Venetian Gondola Paintings
Original Art, Venetian School
Original Art, Venetian School
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Set of three paintings of Venetian gondolas, each with a prominent person and with oarsmen, apparently from a special boat parade, or from a ceremony for a regatta, in May 1775.
Each picture depicts a bissona, an ancient type of Venetian ceremonial boat, decorated with allegorical and fanciful carvings and rowed by eight costumed oarsmen. Such boats were used to display or receive important people. A prominent Venetian sits or stands at the bow of each bissona. In modern times, reconstructed versions of these boats are featured during Venice’s annual Regata Storica [Historical Regatta], a colorful parade of traditional gondolas and multi-oared boats.
Pietro Pisani, dressed in black, sits in a boat decorated with a combination of Baroque foliate and Chinoiserie motifs. There are tall green parasols at either end and the gondoliers also dressed in Chinese inspired costumes. Pisani was a procuratore, a high level government position. His family home, Palazzo Pisani-Moretta, is still a Venetian landmark.
Leone Pesero stands at the front of his boat holding a gilded archer’s bow. The gondola is decorated with two outsized sculptures of white swans and Baroque carvings, and is garlanded with flowers.
Lodovico Manin, identified in the title as a procuratore, reclines in black at the bow of a boat bearing a row of gilded medallions along the side, draped with blue fringed fabric and bearing tall, umbrella-shaped decorations at either end. Fourteen years later, in 1789, Manin became the 120th, and last, doge of Venice, the chief magistrate in the ancient constitution of the Republic Venice. With Napoleon’s army prepared to take over in 1797, he abdicated and declared the end of the republic.
References:
“Doges of Venice.” Science Daily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/encyclopedia/doges_of_venice (22 November 2004).
J.-Ch. Rossler. “Palazzo Pisani-Moretta.” Venice architecture--palazzi. 1999-2004. http://www.jc-r.net/venezia/palazzi/pisani-moretta-e.htm (22 November 2004).
Penzo, Gilberto. “Historic Boats.” Venetia. http://www.venetia.it/boats/stor_eng.htm (22 November 2004).