The stubborn donkey

Giuseppe Canella studied under his father Giovanni, an architect, fresco painter and set designer. He produced stage sets and decorated stately homes in Verona and Mantua. Around 1815 he took up landscape painting, possibly under the influence of Pietro Ronzoni. He embarked on a tour through Spain, the Netherlands and France. He exhibited at the Paris Salon, undertook commissions from Louis Philippe of Orléans and was awarded the gold medal in the exposition of 1830. He is best known for his Milan views though this work has more of a Northern European feel to it which would have had great appeal as a memento to those on the Grand Tour at the time.