Francesco Battaglioli

Francesco Battaglioli (Modena 1725–1796 Venetian) View of a villa with a fountain, gardens and elegant figures, oil on canvas, 81 x 156 cm, framed Provenance: European private collection. We are grateful to Prof Giancarlo Sestieri for confirming the authenticity of this painting having examined it in the original (written communication dated 26.2.2001). We are also grateful to Dr Annalisa Scarpa, who independently confirmed the authenticity. Prof Sestieri dates the painting to after Francesco Battaglioli’’’’s return to Venice from Madrid, where he was active at the court of Ferdinand VI between 1754 and 1760. The composition is comparable with two perspectival view, published by Pallucchini (see ‘Conclusioni su Francesco Battaglioli’’’’ in Arte veneta, XXXIX, 1985, pp. 175-177, ills. 1-2 and 4). The artist demonstrates similar stylistic traits in his paintings; on the one hand, the veduta genre and, on the other, the painting of architectural views. In Madrid Battagliolo worked as a stage painter, where his capabilities as a painter of fantastical architecture were combined with his predilection for theatrical staging. According to Sestieri the figures in this painting may also be attributed to Francesco Battaglioli.

Francesco Battaglioli (?Modena c. 1717-c. 1796 ?Venice) andFrancesco Fontebasso (Venice 1707-1769) Capriccio of a palace complex with a horse-drawn carriage andcavalry in Eastern dress, mountains beyond oil on canvas 65¾ x 99½ in. (167 x 252.7 cm.) Anonymous sale; Dorotheum, Vienna, 5 October 2005, lot 23, as'Francesco Battaglioli' (Euro 80,000). Fontebasso and Battaglioli are known to have collaborated on theaffreschi of the Palazzo Salvadego Martinengo in Brescia in 1767,where they decorated the walls and ceilings with scenes from thestory of Alexander and Roxanna in the Sala Grande and the SalaCrema; Battaglioli set the historical subject in a series ofarchitectural views, while Fontebasso painted the figures. Otherinstances of their artistic collaboration include the Architetturedi invenzione con macchiette, in the Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo inBrescia (inv. no. 200), and two Vedute architettoniche in a privatecollection in Rome, that are published as G.B. Tiepolo by Morassi('Giambattista Tiepolo - Painter of Macchiette', The BurlingtonMagazine, CI, 1959, pp. 227-231) and Rizzi (La mostra del Tiepolo,Milan, 1971).

Francesco Battaglioli (?Modena c. 1725-c. 1796 ?Venice) A capriccio of a neoclassical loggia on the embankment of a canal,the buildings of a town and a mountainous landscape beyond oil on canvas 31 x 48¼ in. (78.7 x 122.5 cm.) Born in Modena, Battaglioli is thought to have first studiedunder Raffaello Rinaldi (active 1713-1747?), a local artist, andbetween 1747 and 1751 he was enrolled in the Fraglia Veneziana,where he met the leading vedutisti of the time. In 1754 he went toMadrid to work at the court of Ferdinand VI, where he paintedtheatre sets for the royal palaces in Aranjuez and Madrid. Otherpatrons there included the famous castrato Farinelli (1705-1782),under whose supervision he painted stage sets for PietroMetastasio's opera La Nitteti (Madrid, Real Academia de BellasArtes de San Fernando). During his time in Spain, he also painted anumber of vedute, including four of the castle of Villaviciosa deOdon (New York, Centerport, Vanderbilt Museum) and two views of theroyal palace at Aranjuez commissioned by Farinelli (signed anddated 1756; Madrid, Museo del Prado). Following the death ofFerdinand VI in 1759, Battaglioli returned to Italy. In 1772 he wasnominated a member of the Accademia di Belle Arti in Venice and sixyears later he succeeded Antonio Visentini as a professor ofperspective at the Accademia, a position he held until1789.

FRANCESCO BATTAGLIOLI (Modena c. 1717-c. 1796) and GIUSEPPE ZAIS ( Forno di Canale, nr. Belluno 1709-1781 Treviso) An architectural capriccio of classical buildings with horsemen and other figures oil on canvas 70½ x 100 in. (179.1 x 276.9 cm.) Saleroom Notice Please note the following additional provenance: Sir Sidney Medley Waterlow (1822-1906), Lord Mayor of London. His widow, Margaret Hamilton Waterlow (1874-1931), and by descent to her granddaughter, Barbara Ford, from whom purchased by the present owners. Provenance Sir Sidney Medley Waterlow (1822-1906), Lord Mayor of London. His widow, Margaret Hamilton Waterlow (1874-1931), and by descent to her granddaughter, Barbara Ford, from whom purchased by the present owners. Lot Notes We are grateful to Dott. Dario Succi for confirming the attribution to Francesco Battaglioli for the architecture and for suggesting the attribution to Giuseppe Zais for the figures (verbal communication, 13 November 2001). Born in Modena, Battaglioli is thought to have first studied under Raffaello Rinaldi (active 1713-1747?), a local artist, and between 1747 and 1751 he was enrolled in the Fraglia Veneziana, where he met the leading vedutisti of the time. In 1754 he went to Madrid to work at the court of Ferdinand VI, where he painted theatre sets for the royal palaces in Aranjuez and Madrid. Other patrons there included the famous castrato Farinelli (1705-1782), under whose supervision he painted stage sets for Pietro Metastasio's opera La Nitteti (Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid). During his time in Spain, he also painted a number of vedute, including four of the castle of Villaviciosa de Odon (Vanderbilt Museum, Centerport, New York) and two views of the royal palace at Aranjuez commissioned by Farinelli (signed and dated 1756; Museo del Prado, Madrid). Following the death of Ferdinand VI in 1759, Battaglioli returned to Italy. In 1772 he was nominated a member of the Accademia di Belle Arti in Venice and six years later he succeeded Antonio Visentini as a professor of perspective at the Accademia, a position he held until 1789. Dr. Succi (verbal communication, 4 December 2001) dates the present work to the 1760s, that is after the artist's return from Spain. Succi has suggested (D. Succi, Francesco Battaglioli, in the catalogue of the exhibition, Capricci veneziani del Settecento, Gorizia, 1988, pp. 265 ff.), that it was at this time that Battaglioli began to use leading figurative artists for the staffage in his compositions, such as Gaspare Diziani (two capriccios, Palazzo Labia, Venice; ibid., p. 267, figs. 10-11) and Francesco Zugno (a pair of capriccios with classical buildings, private collection, Milan, ibid., pp. 268-269, figs. 13-14). In the present work the figures are by Giuseppe Zais (1709-1781), working here in a style close to that of Francesco Simonini (1686-c. 1755), the Parmese artist best known for his battle scenes. Despite the architectural detail and precision evident in many of Battaglioli's compostions, none of the buildings appears to be identifiable. In the present work, the arrangement of the windows of the upper two storeys in the large palace on the right may have been inspired by Vicenzo Scamozzi's Procuratie Nuove in Saint Mark's Square, while its curved roof resembles that of the Basilica in Vicenza. The landscape in the background recalls the hills of the Prealpi between Vicenza and Vittorio Veneto.

Francesco Battaglioli (active Treviso, 18th Century) A capriccio view of a town with elegant figures on a terrace by a ruined archway oil on canvas 20 x 305/8 in. (51 x 78 cm.) Special Notice Provenance Signor Rossi, Venice. Sir Richard Waldie Griffith, Bt., Hendersyde Park, Kelso, Scotland. Literature G. Delogu, Pittori veneti minori del '700, Venice, 1930, p. 154.