Giuseppe Bernardino Bison

By descent to Countess Adrienne von Rosen Ribbing (born 1908), Sweden (from old handwriting on the reverse of the panel).

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This work on a heavy single piece of wood is in beautiful condition. The panel is very slightly curved from top to bottom and could be better accommodated in its frame. The paint layer is in marvelous condition. No retouches are visible under ultraviolet light, except in the upper center of the sky and possibly in a few spots in the wall to the left of the large arch, above the same arch, and in the two grey walls above the group of figures on the right. These could in theory be original to the artist, but they are more likely to be old broad retouches.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Bison was born in Palmanova, in Friuli, and his earliest artistic training was in Brescia. By age fourteen he had enrolled at the Venetian Academy where he studied with Costantino Cedini, and the scenic painter Antonio Mauro.  He developed to be a remarkably versatile artist, working in oil, fresco and tempera and in a wide range of genres and subjects.  Bison is best known today as a painter of vedute, following in the grand tradition of Guardi, Marieschi and Canaletto.  However, during his lifetime he was much in demand as a painter of decorative schemes for villas in the Veneto, Treviso and Trieste, and as a theatrical designer.

This painting may relate to Bison’s work in the theater. With its fantastical architecture and costumed figures and dancers, it has the feel of a set design for an opera or some other theatrical production.  Among the theaters Bison is known to have designed for are the Teatro degli Obizzi and Teatro Nuovo in Padua, and the Teatro della Scala in Milan.

We are grateful to Daniele D’Anza, curator of the 2013 Bison exhibition at the Civico Museo Sartorio, Trieste, for endorsing the attribution to Bison on the basis of photographs.