View of Piazza San Marco in Venice, by Antonio Visentini (1742). Palazzo Giusti (Venice)

Antonio Visentini (21 November 1688 – 26 June 1782) was an Italian 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 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 and L ...

, who had painted some decors in

English country house 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 town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

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 city views or ...

's first great series of Venetian ''

vedute A ''veduta'' (Italian for "view"; plural ''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 ...

'' 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 Balbi Palazzo Balbi is a palace on the Canal Grande, Venice, northern Italy. It is included in the ''sestiere'' (quarter) of Dorsoduro, to the right of Ca' Foscari. Currently it is the seat of the President of the Veneto region and of the regional cou ...

. He collaborated with

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

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 royal residences in the United Kingdom, the collection is owned by King Charles III and overseen by the ...

. In

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) 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. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a th ...

, 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 V ...

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 neoclassical and neo-Gothic styles. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1785 and was its president from 1805 to 1806. Early life W ...

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, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, 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, ...

and early

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

architecture.Gallacini's work, ''Trattato di Teofilo Gallacini sopra gli errori degli architetti, ora per la prima volta pubblicato,'' did not see publication for more than a century until 1767, when it appeared under the imprint of the Venetian publisher,

Giovanni Battista Pasquali Giovanni Battista Pasquali was a leading printer in 18th-century Venice, supported by the British consul Joseph Smith (1682–1770), a patron and collector. Pasquali was a scholar himself, who published his own essays as well as finely printed, un ...

, who also brought out Visentini's treatise. 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 offic ...

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.'' Antonio Visentini - Piazza Santi Giovanni e Paolo - WGA25131.jpg, ''Piazza Santi Giovanni e Paolo.'' 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 Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia faculty Architects from Venice 18th-century Italian male artists