(Palmanova 1762–1844 Milan)
The Bucintoro at the Molo, Venice, on Ascension Day,
oil on canvas, 58.5 x 78 cm, framed

The attribution of the present painting has been confirmed by Fabrizio Magani and Dario Succi.

The present painting is a pendant to the Regatta on the Grand Canal by Giuseppe Bernardino Bison (see lot 98).
The subject depicts one of the most important Venetian festivals. On Ascension Day every year, a procession of boats led by the Doge on the bucintoro, the Venetian state barge, would cross the lagoon towards the church of San Niccolò, patron saint of sailors. Here the solemn rite of the ‘Marriage of the Sea’ was held, which symbolically wedded Venice to the sea. During the ceremony, the Doge dropped a consecrated ring into the sea and declared that Venice and the sea were one.

The present composition was inspired by a work by Canaletto, which itself was a pair with another painting, commissioned by the British consul in Venice, Joseph Smith, and later in the royal collection at Windsor Castle. Canaletto’s compositions were reproduced in a series of etchings engraved by Antonio Visentini, in Urbis Venetiarum Prospectus Celebriores, appearing for the first time in a full version in 1742 and later reprinted in several other editions in the 18th century, in testimony to the great success of the subject.

Bison remained faithful to the Venetian cultural heritage, devoting himself to easel paintings of numerous genres continuing the tradition of the 18th century: landscapes, architectural capricci, mythological scenes and above all, Venetian views, of which the present example and its companion piece are among the very best examples.