Wooded landscape with figures

  • New
Reference: S47091
Author Domenico Bernardo ZILOTTI
Year: 1770 ca.
Measures: 310 x 252 mm
€300.00

  • New
Reference: S47091
Author Domenico Bernardo ZILOTTI
Year: 1770 ca.
Measures: 310 x 252 mm
€300.00

Description

Etching, ca. 1770/75, signed in plate at lower left.

From the series Four Earthly Landscapes.

Bernardo Zilotti (Borso del Grappa 1716 - Bassano 1783) was a landscape painter and engraver, born into a family of shepherds, of whom there is very little biographical information. In Bassano he devoted himself to the study of Latin and drawing at the famous Remondini chalcography where he enjoyed the friendship and protection of Giuseppe and Antonio Remondini, to whom he left a valuable collection of prints that can be admired at the Bassano Civic Museum and in Venice. Later, after choosing the ecclesiastical life, he moved to Venice. And here, in the workshop of Joseph Wagner (1706-1786) he learned the techniques of intaglio and met Francesco Bartolozzi, whose friend he became. During his frequent stays in Bassano he painted landscapes derived from Michele Marieschi's subjects and a dozen other landscapes of his own invention. As early as the 1800s Baseggio, considering him a “lively inventor and ready and witty draughtsman in sign,” wrote of him that he “knew how to give his prints a pleasing effect,” referring to the picturesque character of his carvings. In front of Zilotti's prints, one is attracted by the freshness of inspiration and the freedom of his manner.

His rural and pastoral visions are enlivened by 'curly' trees whose foliage captures brilliant light reflections. His etched work consists of just under thirty etchings, mostly landscapes of his own invention or derived from subjects by Marieschi and a few plates of military subjects derived from Francesco Simonini (c. 1686-1755).

“La rara serie, nota in un unico stato, non essendo conosciuti esemplari senza l'indirizzo di Marco Pelli, è stata ricostruita da Bortoluzzi (1994, nn. 19-22). Essa si colloca nell'ultima fase dell'attività incisoria di Zilotti: pur essendo anteriore al 1775 perché menzionata da Verci tra i rami intagliati dall'artista (1775, p. 275: "quattro paesaggi"), compare per la prima volta dopo la morte di Zilotti (1783) nell'edizione del 1784 del Catalogo delle stampe in rame [...] della ditta Remondini, in cui viene descritta al n. 309: "4 Paesaggi terrestri". La serie ritorna nei cataloghi del 1797 al n. 541 ("Quattro Paesaggi terrestri alla pittoresca. L 1:12"), del 1803 al n. 541: "Quattro Rami quadrati per traverso in mezzo foglio imperiale. Quattro Paesaggi terrestri, alla pittoresca. L. 2:"; del 1817 al n. 316 al prezzo di L. 1. Nel Catalogo del 1842 compare sotto il n. 219 in una miscellanea di 22 rami, con l'indicazione "4. Paesaggi terrestri", venduti al prezzo complessivo di L. 5:50. La serie veniva proposta "anche separatamente" al prezzo di L. 1, raddoppiato se "miniata". (cfr. D. Succi, La Serenissima nello specchio di rame, p. 656).

Beautiful proof, printed on contemporary laid paper, trimmed to copper and applied to antique collection mount, slight browning, otherwise in good condition.

Bibliografia

D. Succi, La Serenissima nello specchio di rame, pp. 656-658, n. 22; F. Bortoluzzi, Bernardo Zilotti 1716-1783 incisore veneto del ‘700, p. 106.

Domenico Bernardo ZILOTTI (1730 - 1780)

Bernardo Zilotti (Borso del Grappa 1716 - Bassano 1783) was a landscape painter and engraver, born into a family of shepherds, of whom there is very little biographical information. In Bassano he devoted himself to the study of Latin and drawing at the famous Remondini chalcography where he enjoyed the friendship and protection of Giuseppe and Antonio Remondini, to whom he left a valuable collection of prints that can be admired at the Bassano Civic Museum and in Venice. Later, after choosing the ecclesiastical life, he moved to Venice. And here, in the workshop of Joseph Wagner (1706-1786) he learned the techniques of intaglio and met Francesco Bartolozzi, whose friend he became. During his frequent stays in Bassano he painted landscapes derived from Michele Marieschi's subjects and a dozen other landscapes of his own invention. As early as the 1800s Baseggio, considering him a “lively inventor and ready and witty draughtsman in sign,” wrote of him that he “knew how to give his prints a pleasing effect,” referring to the picturesque character of his carvings. In front of Zilotti's prints, one is attracted by the freshness of inspiration and the freedom of his manner.

Domenico Bernardo ZILOTTI (1730 - 1780)

Bernardo Zilotti (Borso del Grappa 1716 - Bassano 1783) was a landscape painter and engraver, born into a family of shepherds, of whom there is very little biographical information. In Bassano he devoted himself to the study of Latin and drawing at the famous Remondini chalcography where he enjoyed the friendship and protection of Giuseppe and Antonio Remondini, to whom he left a valuable collection of prints that can be admired at the Bassano Civic Museum and in Venice. Later, after choosing the ecclesiastical life, he moved to Venice. And here, in the workshop of Joseph Wagner (1706-1786) he learned the techniques of intaglio and met Francesco Bartolozzi, whose friend he became. During his frequent stays in Bassano he painted landscapes derived from Michele Marieschi's subjects and a dozen other landscapes of his own invention. As early as the 1800s Baseggio, considering him a “lively inventor and ready and witty draughtsman in sign,” wrote of him that he “knew how to give his prints a pleasing effect,” referring to the picturesque character of his carvings. In front of Zilotti's prints, one is attracted by the freshness of inspiration and the freedom of his manner.