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Draft:Domenico Lovisa

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Domenico Lovisa (ca 1690 - 1750) was an Italian publisher in Venice in the first half of the 18th century. From his workshop in Rialto he published books on a wide range of topics, musical works and maps.[1] Lovisa is best-known as the publisher of Il Gran Teatro di Venezia, a collection of engravings with views of Venice and famous Venetian paintings[2]. The work is considered an important early representative of Venetian view engravings.[3] [4] It has been the subject of exhibitions in the Palazzo Ducale in Venice[5] and in the Benediktiner Stift Göttweig in Austria[6]. Copies of Il Gran Teatro di Venezia are held in several libraries in Venice and international museums[7] [8].

Life

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Domenica Lovisa had his workshop (bottega) under the arches of Rialto (sotto i portici di Rialto) from where he worked as publisher and printer. Although there are no engravings by Lovisa himself he collaborated with some of the most eminent Venetion engravers of his time. The fact that he took on and completed a substantial project like Il Gran Teatro di Venezia suggests that his workshop was successful and well established amongst Venetian publishers of the first half of the 18th century.

Il Gran Teatro di Venezia

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Lovisa is best known for publishing a collection of Venetian views (Vedute) and engravings of paintings in 1720, entitled Il Gran Teatro di Venezia. It was published in at least four editions over a period of around 30 years. Every edition consists of two volumes, one with up to 65 different views (vedute) of famous Venetian buildings and sights. The other volume contains approximately 57 plates of engravings of famous Venetian paintings, including works by Veronese, Titian, Tintoretto, Palma il Giovane.

As Venice became one of the main destination of the 18th century Grand Tour there was great demand for depictions of the city and its famous sights to be taken home as souvenirs.[9] Venetian view oil paintings, so called vedute by artists like Michele Marieschi[10] and Canaletto[11] were collected by the European aristocracy and entered Royal collections.[12] To satisfy the demand for views of Venice engravings were produced which achieved considerable print runs. Series of prints were bound into books, such as Il Gran Teatro di Venezia and achieved much greater circulation than oil paintings. Before Domenico Lovisa only one collection of engravings had been published by Luca Carlevarijs under the title of Le fabriche, e vedute di Venetia. It contained 103 views of Venice.[13] Following the success of Lovisa's series Giovanni Battista Pasquali published in 1735 the first set of Venetian views by Giovanni Antonio Canal (Canaletto) engraved by Antonio Visentini under the title of Prospectus Magni Canali Venetiarum. Consul Joseph Smith had originally commissioned the views from Canaletto in 1726. The first series of Visentini engravings significantly contributed to Canaletto's success and was followed by two more which were engraved and published in 1742 together with the Prospectus.[1] In 1741 Michele Marieschi published his collection of 21 Venetian views entitled Magnificentiores Selectioresque Urbis Venetiarum prospectus[14] A series of 20 Venetian views entitled Prospectuum aedium, viarumque insigniorum urbis venetiarum nautico certamine, ac nundinis adiectis engraved by Giambattista Brostolon[15] was published by Ludovico Furlanetto in 1763. They were engraved by Andrea Zucchi, Domenico Rossetti (1650-1736), Giacomo Barri, Domenico Bonavera (b 1640), Pietro Sante Bartoli, Agostino dalla Via and others. The second volume contained views of Venice engraved by Filippo Vasconi (1687-1730), Giuseppe Valeriani (d 1761), Carlo Zucchi and Andrea Zucchi, as well as an unidentified monogrammist, S.F. At least another three editions of Il Gran Teatro di Venezia were published by Lovisa before 1750, suggesting significant commercial success of Lovisa's ambitious project.

References

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  1. ^ The catalogue of the Biblioteca Marciana in Venice lists 168 works under his name as publisher.
  2. ^ Juergen, Schulz (2000). Ackermann, James S (ed.). Studi in onore di Renato Cevese [Studies in honour of Renato Cevese] (in Italian). Centro internazionale di studi di architettura Andrea Palladio. pp. 443–456.
  3. ^ Succi, Dario (2013). La Serenissima nello specchio di rame: splendore di una civiltà figurativa del Settecento : l'opera completa dei grandi maestri veneti. Cecchetto Prior Alto Antiquariato. p. 978. ISBN 9788890884009.
  4. ^ Calabi, Augusto. La gravure italienne au XVIIIe siècle. France: G. Van Oest, 1931.
  5. ^ Venezia, Venezia: 1717-1993 : immagini a confronto [Venice, Venice: 1717-1993 : images in comparison] (in Italian). Venice: Silvana. 1993.
  6. ^ Lechner, Gregor Martin (1990). Venezianische Veduten : Ein Cicerone durch das Venedig des frühen 18. Jahrhunderts [Venetian views: A guide through early 18th century Venice] (in German). Benediktinerstift Göttweig.
  7. ^ "Collections Online | British Museum".
  8. ^ "The Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection Online".
  9. ^ Pedrocco, F. 2002. Visions of Venice: Paintings of the 18th Century.
  10. ^ Montecuccoli degli Erri, Federico., Pedrocco, Filippo., Marieschi, Michele. Michele Marieschi: la vita, l'ambiente, l'opera. Italy: Bocca, 1999.
  11. ^ Links, J. G.. Canaletto. United Kingdom: Phaidon Press, 1999.
  12. ^ A search of the Royal Collection Trust for Canaletto reveals 52 paintings in the possession of the British Royal Family
  13. ^ "'Le fabriche e vedute di Venetia: Disegnate, poste in prospettiva et intagliate da Luca Carlevarijs con privilegii". 1703.
  14. ^ "Magnificentiores Selectioresque Urbis Venetiarum Prospectus". 30 October 2011.
  15. ^ Bryan, Michael (1886). Robert Edmund Graves (ed.). Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, Biographical and Critical. Vol. I: A-K. London: George Bell and Sons. p. 187.
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