Italian school; Second half of the eighteenth... Lot n° 19

Italian school; Second half of the eighteenth century. "View of villa Toscana". Drawing on paper. It retains traces of a label indicating the area of the landscape. Presents original period frame in wood. Measurements: 21 x 28 cm; 30 x 36 cm (frame). The work that concerns us here is conceived in a landscape mode, allowing the viewer to observe a wide landscape. In the foreground, a hunter and a dog, both with their backs to the viewer, contemplate the whole scene, as if admiring their own domains. These domains are crowned in the distance by the presence of an imposing villa, which from its architecture seems to be Italian. This type of works were very common during the 18th century, boosted by what today is known as the Grand Tour, a trip made by young people from wealthy families, with the intention of increasing their knowledge and life experience. This journey had as its destination of excellence the country of Italy, although other places such as France, and already at the beginning of the 19th century Spain, which was understood by travelers as an exotic area populated by bandits and highwaymen, were also included. The history of vedutismo begins in the 18th century, at first linked to the city of Venice, although the urban scenario appears in the vast cycles that celebrate the festivities and ceremonies of the Serenissima at least since the second half of the 15th century. Proud of its power, the city then considered queen of the Mediterranean for its commercial contacts reinforced it through a true visual propaganda. With the precise and opportunely idealized representation of the scene of so many historical and legendary episodes, a myth was consolidated that was destined to endure over time, even if in the 18th century only shaky foundations remained to support it.