Description
Ippolito Nicolò Spinola di Lerma (Genova 1778 – Torino 1856) – Venice, view of St. Mark’s Square from the portico of the Palazzo Ducale.
Oil on canvas, in carved and gilded wooden frame.
Signed lower right: «I. Spinola. Venezia».
Ippolito Nicolò Spinola di Lerma, Genoese marquis and general of the Savoyard army, Grand Chamberlain at the court of King Carlo Alberto, cultivated painting alongside his military and court career, having received a formal training that earned him recognition as an «distinguished artist for the diligent studies carried out in a regular course at a renowned school and for the fine proofs of his genius» (Vittorio Angius, Gazzetta piemontese, 1845). His pictorial output belongs to the Romantic vedutistic tradition of the first half of the 19th century.
The painting depicts St. Mark’s Square as seen from the interior portico of the Palazzo Ducale: the large Istrian stone arches frame the open piazza, animated by figures in 19th-century dress, street vendors, and passers-by. In the background, the Torre dell’Orologio and the Procuratie facades are rendered with attention to their rhythmic arcading. The light, warm and diffuse, creates a sharp contrast between the shadows of the portico and the brightness of the square. The staffage figures recall the repertoire of Romantic Venetian vedutism, executed with a confident and fluid touch.
Condition report: Original canvas. Good state of conservation of the pictorial surface.
