"Venice, golden sunrise over the Lagoon"

Francisco Pradilla Ortiz
(Zaragoza 1848 - Madrid 1921)
"Venice, golden sunrise over the Lagoon"

Signed lower left
Oil on pressed cardboard
original frame
Measures painting 20 x 12 frame 40 x 30
Very good condition

Small jewel signed Francisco Pradilla, one of the most famous Spanish artists of the late 19th century, whose most important works are exhibited at the Prado Museum in Madrid, of which he was also director from 1896 to 1898.

This little test of his skill describes in a masterly way, and with vaguely impressionistic notes, a magnificent Venetian view just before sunrise, fantastic with a single golden one that envelops the sky and the waters of the Lagoon.

The work dates back to the 1870s, during his ten-year presence in Italy, where he was appointed director of the Spanish Academy in Rome, and often saw him represent the beauty director of the Peninsula, from the landscapes of Venice to the Sicily via Rome and Naples.

Known as a great painter of historical subjects, in Italy he often abandoned his famous vocation to devote himself to landscape painting, with small tablets painted "en plein air".
Our book is a good example.

Biography :
He was born in Villanueva de Gállego, in the province of Zaragoza and began his studies in Zaragoza. He first joined the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando and later the "Academia de Acuarelistas" (Academy of Watercolourists) in Madrid.
In 1873 he became one of the first students chosen to study at the new Spanish Academy in Rome.
From there he had the opportunity to travel to France and Venice to study the ancients.
In 1878, he presented his painting "Doña Joanna la fou or" (Juana la Loca) at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts (Spain) receiving the Medal of Honor.
In 1879, the Spanish Senate then commissioned him to create La "Rendición de Granada" (The Surrender of Granada), which took three years to complete.
In 1881 he became director of the Spanish Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, but after two years he resigned from this position.
He mainly traveled in Italy, depicting local themes and people. In 1897 he returned to Madrid as director of the Prado Museum. He held this position only briefly to add paint.
He is mainly recognized for his historical paintings.
The last was completed in 1910, a large painting entitled "Cortejo del bautizo del Príncipe, hijo de los Reyes Católicos, por las calles de Sevilla" (suite of the Baptism of Don Juan, son of the Catholic Monarchs, In the streets of Seville).
An earlier example is "The Sigh of the Moor", which depicts Muhammad XII, the Arab ruler of Granada, turning to venture his last gaze over the city from the "Puerto del Suspiro del Moro" before going into exile.
The financial constraint after the failure of his bank forced him to be particularly productive.
Wall in Madrid in November 1921.