(active in Venice in the last quarter of the 18th century)
San Nicolò di Castello with the Bucintoro on Ascension Day, Venice,
oil on canvas, 63.6 x 96 cm, framed

We are grateful to Charles Beddington for suggesting the attribution of the present painting and for his help in cataloguing the present lot.

The present painting represents an exceptional and unique addition to the oeuvre of Francesco Tironi. On the left side appears the Church of San Nicolò di Castello, followed by the Seminario Ducale, the Ospedale dei Marineri, the Convent of the Cappuccine Concette and the Church of Sant’Antonio Abate, called Sant’Antonio di Castello. The view shows one of the areas of Venice which has been significantly altered since the 18th century, with the transformation into the Giardini Pubblici under Napoleon.

The composition depicts the departure of the Bucintoro on Ascension Day. This festivity, amongst the most important of the year in Venice, was held in memory of the naval victory of the Doge Pietro Orseolo over the Dalmatian pirates which traditionally occurred on Ascension Day in 998. The ceremony consisted of a rite of ‘matrimony’ with the sea which took place at the mouth of the Lido. The Doge would throw a ring which had been blessed by the patriarch into the water to symbolise the unification between Venice and the Adriatic Sea. In the present painting, the large Bucintoro is represented in the centre of the composition, surrounded by the boats of the parade, while the moored galleys in the lagoon honour the festivity.

Tironi was primarily known as a draughtsman as twenty-four drawings by him of islands in the Venetian Lagoon were engraved by Antonio Sandi and published as a set after 1779 (see D. Succi, Francesco Tironi. Ultimo Vedutista del Settecento Venezia, Pordenone 2004, pp. 5–18). Several paintings signed with the initials ‘F T’ have significantly helped to establish him as a distinctive figure who may have been a studio assistant of Canaletto, before being influenced by Francesco Guardi (see C. Beddington, Venice: Canaletto and his Rivals, exhibition catalogue, London 2010, pp. 130–131).