18th Century Ruins Landscape Attributed to Bartolomeo Pedon

About the Item

Attributed to Bartolomeo Pedon (Italian 1665-1732) "Ruins", circa 1700 Oil on canvas 69.5" x 52" inches framed 61" x 43.5" inches unframed Pedon was born in October 1665. In 1716, he became part of the Fraglia, a guild of Venetian painters. He lived the lifestyle of a Bohemian and had a strong taste for poetry. Pedon spent most of his career as a painter in Padua, in the Monastery of San Benedetto, and died in February 1733. The present painting, attributed to Pedon, relies on the late Seicento landscape culture of Northern Italy. The artist was clearly influenced by painters like Johann Anton Eismann (1604-1698), Hans de Jode (1630-1691), Carlo Brisighella, Ernst Daret and Cavalier Tempesta (1673-1701). Representative subjects of the Vedutisti artists of this period were romantic landscapes, harbour's views with vessels – often depicted in a Dutch manner –, and realistic "Bamboccianti" figures with classic architectural ruins. Pedon depicted in this painting not only a romantic fluvial landscape with a town in the foreground, fishermen unloading their nets and female figures having some rest, but he also expressed his great interest in the architectural elements from the antique period. Pedon’s works can be compared to the paintings that Marco Ricci (1667-1730), nephew of the artist Sebastiano Ricci, and Antonio Martini (1672-1725) were producing at the time. Research by Banzato and Antoniazzi-Rossi has shown this chronology more accurately, and has enlightened the parallel development of the careers of Pedon and Marco Ricci. They argue that, around the time that Marco Ricci returned to Venice in 1711, Pedon seized upon aspects of Ricci's earlier career, in which he employed elements of Dutch origin. Following Ricci on his definitive return to Venice in 1716, after his experience in England, Pedon’s stylistic development would mirror Ricci's. In the 1720s the interest of both painters focused on spacious landscapes, with the mood of a pastoral idyll depicted in a classical manner. The present work, which is attributed to Pedon, was probably painted around 1715-1720 (?). Comparable elements to Ricci's works of the same period are the type of the figures, the contours of distant mountains, the town at middle distance, the ruins and the sense of naturalism. Pedon’s pictorial interpretation is flighty and lively. He employed bright and vivacious colours, and created a particular pictorial technique named macchiette, which can be found in the works of Eismann during the late 17th century. Another characteristic of Pedon’s paintings is the “inappropriate” use of the perspective, as can be observed on the present canvas, where the perspective of the landscape is made up of multiple and inconsistent points of views . An interesting stylistic element is also the foliage of the tree at the upper left of the painting, especially the frond set against the sky, as well as the trunk and the branches. It seems that Pedon was inspired by the late works of Salvatore Rosa and his depicting of foliage and trees. It seems possible that Pedon’s knowledge of the Rosa manner has been refreshed by renewed contact with his works. Recently, Marshall has argued in his research to attribute two of Salvator Rosa’s landscape paintings to Barotolomeo Pedon, while emphasising the elements stemming from Rosa.

Attributed to:

Bartolomeo Pedon (Painter)

Dimensions:

Height: 69.5 in (176.53 cm)Width: 52 in (132.08 cm)Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm)

Style:

Baroque (Of the Period)

Materials and Techniques:

Canvas,Hand-Painted

Place of Origin:

Italy

Period:

18th Century