Lot Essay
This and the following lot are part of a series of landscape drawings of similar sizes by Domenico and his father Giovanni Battista. Most of these were executed from nature in the region of Udine: two have been identified as views of the Villa Valmarana, south of Vicenza, one as the crossing of the Duomo in Udine, and two others as the campanile of the church of the Madonna delle Grazie in Udine and a view of Udine from the Porta Villalta, Knox, op. cit., nos. 36-7, 50, 54 and 66. They were executed in the late 1750s. The two of the Villa Valmarana were executed in the summer and autumn of 1757 when father and son painted frescoes in the Villa. The rest of the drawings may have been made between August and late September 1759 while both artists collaborated in the decoration of the church of the Purità at Udine. Giovanni Battista painted an altarpiece of the Immaculate Conception and the ceiling for the church while Domenico painted eight chiaroscuri for the walls.