Giuseppe Canella (28 July 1788 – 11 September 1847), also referred to as Giuseppe Canella the Elder, was an Italian painter.

Biography

Initially trained by his father Giovanni, an architect, fresco painter and set designer, Giuseppe Canella started out producing stage sets and decorating stately homes in

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

and

Mantua Mantua ( ; ; Lombard language, Lombard and ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lombardy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, eponymous province. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the "Italian Capital of Culture". In 2 ...

. His brother, Carlo Canella, was also a painter. It may have been under the influence of

Pietro Ronzoni Pietro Ronzoni (1781 in Sedrina, Bergamo – 1861 in Bergamo) was an Italian painter. Biography Trained in Rome under the guidance of the landscape painter Luigi Campovecchio from Mantua, Ronzoni met Angelica Kauffman and Antonio Canova and form ...

, a landscape painter of international renown active in Verona, that he took up landscape painting. The first views were not produced until 1815, after a short stay in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

. After making his debut at the Fine Art Exposition at the

Brera Academy The Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera (), also known as the or Brera Academy, is a state-run tertiary public academy of fine arts in Milan, Italy. It shares its history, and its main building, with the Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan's main public mu ...

of 1818, he made a long journey through

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

for study purposes. The set of 13 landscapes shown at the Expositions at the Brera in 1831 proved a great success with the public and critics alike, not least due to the fame achieved in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

with works exhibited in the Salons, commissions from Louis Philippe of Orleans and the award of a gold medal in 1830. He returned to

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

in 1832 and devoted his energies to urban views characterised by an interest in the events of contemporary life and an atmospheric form of portrayal in evident competition with

Giovanni Migliara Giovanni Migliara (October15, 1785April18, 1837) was a nobleman and Italian painter active at the beginning of the 19th century, painting veduta, vedute and history paintings. Biography Born to artisan parents of limited means, he was apprenti ...

. Landscape came to predominate as from 1835 with subjects drawn from the Lombard countryside and lakes. The focus on poor and humble aspects of life formed part of the artist’s fundamental naturalism and coincided with a moralistic approach derived from the novelist

Alessandro Manzoni Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Antonio Manzoni (, , ; 7 March 1785 – 22 May 1873) was an Italian poet, novelist and philosopher. He is famous for the novel ''The Betrothed (Manzoni novel), The Betrothed'' (orig. ) (1827), generally ranked among ...

. Crucial importance attaches in the artist’s mature period to his trip to

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

and

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

in 1838–39. Among his pupils or painters influenced by Canela were

Felice Giuseppe Vertua Felice Giuseppe Vertua, (1820 - 1862) was an Italian painter. Vertua painted vedute with genre scenes and views of Cremona. He was born and died in Cremona. We know little of his early training, but he became a follower of the painter Giuseppe ...

, Constantino Prinetti, and Giovanni Renica.* His son, Giuseppe Canella the Younger (Venice, 1837 - Padoa, 1913), was also a painter.

Works

Among his works are: *''Views of Paris and the Boulevards'' *''

Cathedral of Milan Milan Cathedral ( ; ), or Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica of the Nativity of Saint Mary (), is the cathedral church of Milan, Lombardy, Italy. Dedicated to the Nativity of St. Mary (), it is the seat of the Archbishop of Milan, currently Archbi ...

'' *''Harbor at

Honfleur Honfleur () is a commune in the Calvados department in northwestern France. It is located on the southern bank of the estuary of the Seine across from Le Havre and very close to the exit of the Pont de Normandie. The people that inhabit Hon ...

'' *''

Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence The (Italian for 'Basilica of the Holy Cross') is a minor basilica and the principal Franciscan church of Florence, Italy. It is situated on the Piazza di Santa Croce, about 800 metres southeast of the Duomo, on what was once marshland beyond ...

'' *''New Street in Venice'' *''View of a Village—moonlight''

Notes

References

* Elena Lissoni
Giuseppe Canella
, online catalogu
Artgate
by

Fondazione Cariplo Fondazione Cariplo is a charitable foundation in Milan, Italy. It was created in December 1991 when the Amato law, Law no. 218 of 30 July 1990, came into force. Under this law, saving banks were required to separate into a not-for-profit foun ...

, 2010, CC BY-SA (source for biography). * * Saur, K. G., publisher (2000). ''The Artists of the World: A Bio-bibliographical Index A to Z''. Munich: K. G. Saur. .

Other projects

{{DEFAULTSORT:Canella, Giuseppe 1788 births 1847 deaths Painters from Verona 18th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 19th-century Italian painters 19th-century Italian male artists 18th-century Italian male artists