(Pian de Preti 1744–1821 Genoa)?
A wintry river landscape with woodcutters,
oil on canvas, 75 x 99 cm, framed

Dr. Anna Orlando and Dr. Camillo Manzitti have independently identified the present painting as a work by Bacigalupo. The painting comes with a written certificate by Dr. Anna Orlando.

The present painting illustrates the popularity of elegantly composed winter landscapes among Northern Italian collectors during the 18th century. The subject as such emerged as early as the 17th century and culminated in the oeuvre of Francesco Foschi in the 18th century.

Bacigalupo, who came from the Genoa area, went to Rome in 1772, following the completion of his studies at the Accademia Ligustica in Genoa. He returned to Genoa in 1778, where he moved into the Palazzo Gentile and became one of the city’s most popular artists, receiving commissions from such patrician families as the Durazzos, the Cattaneos, and the Spinolas. He painted six mythological scenes for Filippo III Durazzo, still conserved today in the Durazzo Pallavicini Collection in Genoa. He rapidly specialised in winter landscapes, with which he was highly successful. The present painting is closely related to the composition of December from the series of the Twelve Months (Galleria Cesare Lampronti, Rome) and to a winter landscape in a Genoese private collection (see A. Orlando, Dipinti Genovesi dal Cinquecento al Settecento, Ritrovamenti dal Collezionismo Privato, Turin, 2010, p. 25). Bacigalupo’s idealised landscapes reflect the interest of contemporary Genoese collectors in their city´s rural surroundings.

additional picture:
fig.1: Giuseppe Bacigalupo, December, Cesare Lampronti, Rome
fig.2: Giuseppe Bacigalupo, Winter, private collection