Lot 1036 | A Pair: Italian Landscapes with Shepherds

ZAIS, GIUSEPPE
1709 Forno di Canale - 1784 Trevisio

Title: A Pair: Italian Landscapes with Shepherds.
Date: Ca. 1750.
Technique: Each oil on canvas.
Measurement: 49,5 x 63cm.
Frame/Pedestal: Framed.
Provenance:
Private ownership, Germany.

Giuseppe Zais is one of the most renowned landscape painters active in Venice in the 18th century. Only little is known about his life: From 1748 to 1768 he was enrolled in the "Fraglia veneziana dei pittori" (corporation of Venetian Painters), and in 1774 he became a member of the Academy of Venice. He worked a lot for private collectors, both Italian and foreign, such as the english consul in Venice, Joseph Smith. Particularly important for his education was the study of the works of Marco and Sebastiano Ricci and Francesco Zuccarelli. His artistic dialogue and competition with Zuccarelli, who worked in Venice from 1735 to about 1750, gave Zais the encouragement he needed to move from a chiaroscuro and earthy palette to a softer luminosity and a lighter articulation of space. The present paintings come from a renowned private collection in Germany, where they have been for about 150 years. They are therefore a valuable addition to the corpus of paintings by Giuseppe Zais. The two landscapes can be dated around 1750 (when his antagonist Francesco Zuccarelli moved to London) and bear witness to the transformation of Zais' style. A group of shepherds stand on the banks of a river, guarding or milking a herd of cows. Relaxed and quite natural, the figures enjoy the beautiful summer day, warmed by the sun's rays that make the air seem light and golden. The palette is reduced masterful: the primary colors stand out from the background, emphasizing each figure.

We are grateful to Dario Succi, Treviso, and Enrico Lucchese, Trieste, for confirming the attribution of the present paintings on the basis of a high-resolution digital photograph, and for their kind support in cataloguing the present painting.