17th Century Venetian Painter
Architectural Capriccio
Oil on canvas, 61 x 71 cm – with frame, 79 x 90 cm
The painting depicts a fantastical port view, set in a lagoon that clearly evokes the atmosphere of 18th-century Venice. In the foreground, on a quay enlivened by figures in period costume, specifically 15th-century attire, which reinforces the hypothesis of a precise historical interpretation, figures of various social conditions can be glimpsed: a man in a red cloak, some semi-recumbent figures of slaves or prisoners, and, on the right, an elegant figure. The two nude figures in the foreground could allude to a historical episode from 1451: the Venetians, suspicious of the construction of a war fleet by Mehmed II, who aimed to attack Constantinople, had sent a spy (called a bailo in Venetian) to verify this rumor. Mehmed II's court tracked down the agent and handed him over to Venice: the two nude figures could be a symbolic representation of this episode. To reassure the Doge that he was not assembling an attack fleet, Mehmed II sent a ship, clearly visible in the left part of the painting, carrying the Grand Vizier. The Venetians, however, did not allow the vessel to dock, forcing it to anchor in the lagoon; after a long period of waiting, the ship returned eastward. In the background, a expanse of water dotted with sailing boats opens up, with towers and palaces emerging from the lagoon in a hazy, bluish light. Imposing Corinthian colonnades dominate the composition, partly intact and partly ruined, framing the space towards the basin, blending suggestions of ancient classicism with a typically lagoonal scenography. Only two years after this diplomatic episode, in 1453, Constantinople was effectively attacked and conquered by Mehmed II's army. The defeated Venetians took refuge with their ships on the island of Crete. The capriccio would therefore seem to evoke its memory, hiding, under the guise of an Arcadian lagoon view, the memory of one of the most dramatic pages in the history of the Serenissima.
At the base of the architecture, in the lower right corner, the letters D.U. are distinguishable, presumably the author's initials. The attribution remains uncertain, but these initials could lead to Domenico Uberti, a Venetian painter little known today, father of the more famous Pietro Uberti, a portraitist active between Venice and European courts in the first half of the 18th century. If confirmed, this ciphered signature would constitute a precious clue for restoring a catalog still to be reconstructed for Domenico. The work is fully part of the tradition of 18th-century Venetian veduta painting, a genre that experienced extraordinary flourishing thanks to the demand from Grand Tour travelers, eager to take with them visual memories of the Serenissima. The architectural capriccio, which mixes ancient ruins and fantastic architecture with recognizable lagoon views, was one of the favorite genres alongside the topographically accurate view.
