Giuseppe Bernardino Bison

With Galerie de Jonckheere, Paris;
From whom acquired by the present owner. 

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 painting has been recently restored and could be hung as is. The canvas has been lined using wax as an adhesive. The paint layer is clean, varnished and retouched. There appear to be no retouches in the lower portion of the picture in the canal or in the buildings. In the sky there is a fairly substantial loss in the lower center running approximately five inches by two and a half inches and in the upper left there is another group of restorations which are slightly more diffuse and smaller than the former. These restorations and losses are isolated and, given the very good condition of the architecture in the foreground, the overall condition is good.
"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."

After having begun his artistic training in Brescia, Bison enrolled at the Venetian Academy when he was just fourteen years old.  There, he studied with Antonio Maria Zanetti, Constantino Cedini and Antonio Mauri.  Although Bison is most well known for his vedute and capricci painted in the tradition of Canaletto, Bellotto and Guardi, his work with Mauri also led to numerous theatrical and decorative commissions in the Veneto, Treviso and Trieste.  He moved from Venice to Trieste in 1807 and remained there until 1831.  He then moved to Milan, where he died in 1844. 

The present painting is in keeping with the grand traditions of vedute painting.  Bison has beautifully captured the silvery, shimmering reflections of the buildings in the waters of the canal and the feel of the soft light hitting the water.  The elegant figures in the gondolas are lively and elegant, and the strong spatial recession of the buildings lining the canal to left and right create a wondrous, cavernous feel.