Federico del Campo, 
Peruvian 1837-1927- 

The Doge's Palace and the Grand Canal, Venice; 

oil on canvas, signed, inscribed and dated 'F. del Campo. / Venezia 1899' (lower right), 36 x 55.8 cm. 

Provenance: 
with MacConnal-Mason, London. 
Private collection, UK (acquired from the above by the present owner). 

Note: 
This sweeping view epitomizes del Campo's approach to 'vedutismo', a genre pioneered in the 18th century by Francesco Guardi (1712-1793) and Canaletto (1697-1768), which gained increasing popularity in the 19th century. Painted from the promenade overlooking the lagoon and encompassing the Doge's Palace, the entrance to St Mark's Square, and the Church of Santa Maria della Salute, the panorama is striking in its crystalline atmosphere, in which the buildings are set against dazzling, light blue sea and sky. Del Campo achieved this effect with great technical precision through the application of short, fine, brushstrokes and delicate glazes, which give the surface of his paintings a shimmering and luminous quality. In addition to the observed specificity of architecture, del Campo animates the scene with figures, showing a merchant unloading fruits, and flowers from a large gondola. The results boast an abundance of detail, and were rightly prized by European and American travellers on their European Grand Tours. The elegance of the subject and its technique are telling of their times, reflective of sophisticated Belle Époque taste during the 1880s and 1890s, and of the increased demand for souvenir views by a newly mobile bourgeoisie. Indeed, so much were del Campo's views in demand that he painted the present view several times, it becoming his signature composition.

The young del Campo was lured to Italy not only by its picturesqueness but by the hope of launching a successful and lucrative career. In moving to Venice in the late 1880s, he joined an already large community of emigré artists, among them Antoinetta Brandeis (1848-1926) and the Spanish colony of painters who included Rafael Senet (1856-1926), Mariano Fortuny (1871-1949), and Martin Rico y Ortega (1833-1908), all of whom found a ready international market for their views of the city. Many, del Campo included, made such big names for themselves through this genre that they painted nothing but Italian views. An almost identical composition by del Campo, also dated 1899 and of similar dimensions, sold at Sotheby's, New York, 1 February 2019, lot 437 ($125,000).