View of Piazza San Marco in Venice, by Antonio Visentini (1742). Antonio Visentini (21 November 1688 – 26 June 1782) was a Venetian architectural designer, painter and engraver, known for his architectural fantasies and ''capricci'', the author of treatises on perspective and a professor at the Venetian Academy.

Life and works

Born in Venice, Visentini was a pupil of the widely travelled Baroque painter

Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini (29 April 1675 – 2 or 5 November 1741) was one of the leading Venetian history painters of the early 18th century. His style melded the Renaissance style of Paolo Veronese with the Baroque of Pietro da Cortona ...

, who had painted some decors in

English country house image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhou ...

s at the beginning of the 18th century. Visentini is best known today as the engraver for

Canaletto Giovanni Antonio Canal (18 October 1697 – 19 April 1768), commonly known as Canaletto (), was an Italian painter from the Republic of Venice, considered an important member of the 18th-century Venetian school. Painter of cityscapes or ...

's first great series of Venetian ''

vedute A ''veduta'' (; : ''vedute'') is a highly detailed, usually large-scale painting or, more often, print of a cityscape or some other vista. The painters of ''vedute'' are referred to as ''vedutisti''. Origins This genre of landscape originated ...

'' published under the title ''Urbis Venetiarum Prospectus Celebriores ex Antonii Canal'', organised by British resident Joseph (Consul) Smith (1682–1770). The series was begun around 1728 and by the time it was completed in 1735, thirty-eight etchings and engravings had been printed. On the Grand Canal, Visentini was commissioned to redesign the façade of the residence of Consul Smith, the

Palazzo Smith Mangilli Valmarana Palazzo Smith Mangilli Valmarana is a palace in Venice, located in the Cannaregio district and overlooking the Grand Canal. The neighbouring building is Palazzo Michiel del Brusà. History The palazzo is best known for having been the residence ...

. He collaborated with

Francesco Zuccarelli Giacomo Francesco Zuccarelli (commonly known as Francesco Zuccarelli, ; 15 August 1702 – 30 December 1788) was an Italian artist of the late Baroque or Rococo period. He is considered to be the most important landscape painter to have emer ...

on capriccios based on English Palladian villas, again for Consul Smith; some have passed with Smith's collection to the British

Royal Collection The Royal Collection of the British royal family is the largest private art collection in the world. Spread among 13 occupied and historic List of British royal residences, royal residences in the United Kingdom, the collection is owned by King ...

. In

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; or , archaically ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, where it straddles the Bacchiglione, River Bacchiglione. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and e ...

, Visentini painted frescoes at the Villa Valmarana, for which

Gian Domenico Tiepolo Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (August 30, 1727March 3, 1804) was an Italian painter and printmaker in etching. He was the son of artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo and elder brother of Lorenzo Baldissera Tiepolo. Life history Domenico was born in Ve ...

painted the figures. In the 1760s the English architect

James Wyatt James Wyatt (3 August 1746 – 4 September 1813) was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the Neoclassicism, neoclassical and neo-Gothic styles. He was elected to the Royal Academy of Arts in 1785 and was its president from 1805 to ...

studied with him as an architectural draughtsman and painter. Visentini's work, the ''Osservazioni'', published in Venice in 1771, was intended as a complement and an extension of a treatise by Teofilo Gallacini (1564–1641), which concerned itself with the errors of

Mannerist Mannerism is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, when the Baroque style largely replaced it ...

and early

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

architecture. Visentini's engravings in the ''Osservazioni'' illustrate his proposed modifications correcting Baroque architectural details. Visentini taught at the

Accademia di Belle Arti This is a list of the tertiary-level schools or academies of fine art in Italy that are recognised by the Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca, the Italian ministry of higher education. Accademie di Belle Arti The of ...

in Venice from 1772–78, and he died in Venice in 1782.

Gallery

Antonio Visentini - Portrait of Giovanni Antonio Canal, called Canaletto - WGA25132.jpg, ''Portrait of Giovanni Antonio Canal, called Canaletto.'' (Venice) Architectural fantasy by Antonio Maria Visentini - Gallerie Accademia.jpg, ''Architectural fantasy ''

Gallerie dell'Accademia The Gallerie dell'Accademia is a museum gallery of pre-19th-century art in Venice, northern Italy. It is housed in the Scuola della Carità on the south bank of the Grand Canal, within the sestiere of Dorsoduro. It was originally the gallery o ...

Antonio Visentini - San Geremia and the Entrance of Cannaregio - WGA25133.jpg, ''San Geremia and the Entrance of Cannaregio.'' Antonio Visentini - The Canal Grande from Santa Croce to the East - WGA25134.jpg, ''The Grand Canal from Santa Croce to the East.'' Antonio Visentini - The Canal Grande with San Simeone Piccolo and the Scalzi - WGA25135.jpg, ''The Grand Canal with San Simeone Piccolo and the Scalzi.'' Visentini - Santi-giovanni e paolo Venezia (1742).jpg, ''The Basilica di San Giovanni e Paolo.'' Capriccio with a view of Burlington House, London.jpg, ''Burlington House''. Antonio Visentini and Francesco Zuccarelli. Capriccio with a view of Mereworth Castle, Kent.jpg, ''Mereworth Castle''. Antonio Visentini and Francesco Zuccarelli. Francesco Zuccarelli, Antonio Visentini Old Testament Playing Cards.jpg, ''Old Testament Playing Cards''. Antonio Visentini after Francesco Zuccarelli.

Notes

References

*Delneri, Annalia (1988). "Antonio Visentini: 1688–1782," in ''Capricci veneziani del Settecento a cura di Dario Succi'' (Torino: Umberto Allemandi). *Lazzaro, Claudia (1981). ''Eighteenth-Century Italian Prints''. (Stanford). *Links, J.G. (1977). ''Canaletto and his Patrons'', Paul Elek Ltd, London. p. 97–98. *Succi, D., ed (1986). ''Canaletto & Visentini, Venezia & Londra: catalogo della mostra alla Galleria d’arte Moderna di Cà Pesaro.'' Edition Bertoncello–Tedeschi: Venezia.

External links

*Web Gallery of Art: Antonio Visentin

*Visentini, Antonio. ''Osservazioni di Antonio Visentini, architetto veneto, che servono di continuazione al trattato di Teofilo Gallacini sopra gli errori degli architetti. ''Giambatista Pasquali: Venice, 1771

*Biographical sketch of Antonio Visentini in: Pellegrino, Antonio Orlandi. ''Abecedario pittorico del m.r.p. Pellegrino Antonio Orlandi, bolognese, contenente le notizie de' professori di pittura, scoltura, ed architettura.'' Giambatista Pasquali: Venice, 1753

* Vat.lat.8482, Antonio Maria Visentini L'introductione Della soda e reale Architettura, e Prospetiva di Antonio Visentini, Veneto (c. 1764

{{DEFAULTSORT:Visentini, Antonio 1688 births 1782 deaths 18th-century Italian architects 17th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 18th-century Italian painters Italian vedutisti Academic staff of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia Architects from Venice 18th-century Italian male artists