People:

Michele Marieschi (etcher)
Angelo Barbieri Trevisani (engraver (printmaker))
Carlo Orsolini (engraver (printmaker))
Michele Marieschi (sitter)

Title:

Magnificentiores Selectioresque Urbis Venetiarum Prospectus

Date:

ca. 1741

Description:

- Michele Marieschi was a short-lived Venetian vedutista whose small graphic output was limited almost exclusively to this group of twenty-one etchings. The album is a modern-bound collection of the first edition (before the addition of plate numbers) of Marieschi's prints. The prints were all designed and etched by Marieschi himself, with only two exceptions. The frontpiece, with its portrait of Marieschi (and proud proclamation of his status as painter and architect) was drawn by Anzolo Trivisan (Angelo Trevisani, 1669-after 1753) and engraved by Carlo Orsolini (1710-1780). The dedication to the Prince of Beauvau-Craon and the prince's coat of arms, which appear below Marieschi's view of the Piazzetta and Ducal Palace, were also engraved by Orsolini. RH
- Marieschi was probably called an architect in the frontispiece to this volume of etchings (folio 1) in reference to his activity as a stage designer. Folio 21 gives us an indication of Marieschi's activity as a stage designer. According to Fabio Mauroner (Print Collector's Quarterly, vol. 27), the painted façade shown on the Church of San Rocco on the first state of folio 21 was designed by Marieschi. Here Marieschi is probably illustrating a festival which took place on the saint's feast day, since easel paintings are also shown placed against the façades of the buildings to the right in the square. It is interesting that in the second state of the same folio, another façade is shown, the one added to the church by the architect Macarazzi in 1768. According to the text on the first state of the same folio, the original façade on San Rocco was constructed in marble according to a design by Sebastiano Serlio (Mauroner, pl. 16). In addition, the exaggerated two-point and multi-point perspectives which Marieschi uses in many of his views of Venice, also reveal the influence of the principles of stage set design as illustrated in the contemporary drawings of the Bibiera family. MNR

Form:
works of art

Quantity / Object type:
1 album(s)

Stage and Purpose:

veduta

Technique and media:

Etching

Dimensions:

plate marks (range): 29,2 to 30,4 x 42 to 46,4 cm sheets: 48,2 x 68 cm cover: 49,1 x 38 cm

Reference number:

DR1986:0442:001-022

Method of Projection:

perspective drawing

Physical characteristics and technical requirements:

- The condition of the sheets in the album is impeccable. Only very light foxing appears on one page (the verso of the Trivisan-Orsolini frontispiece), and a small tear on the title page has been expertly repaired and is barely noticeable. RH

Inscription:

signed and inscribed - on DR1986:0442:014, by the etcher, in the plate below the image, l.c.: "Ingressus in Urbem venienti e Clodia, cum insula S. Georgij maioris ad dexteram a longe Platea minor D: marci, cum proxima ripa Illijricorum"; and l.r.: "Mich.L Marieschi del.t et inci.t" signed and inscribed - on DR1986:0442:015, by the etcher, in the plate below the image, l.c.: "Platea D: Bassi et suum templum ad dexteram; ad laevam latus Balsilicae D: Marci cum eiusdem foro maiori, quod desinit ad D: Giminiani."; and l.r.: "Mich.l Marieschi del.t et inci.t" signed and inscribed - on DR1986:0442:017, by the etcher, in the plate below the image, l.c.: "Canale magnum usque ad Palatium Familiae Michaeliae prospectum a Ponte Rivoalti, cum aede mercatoria Gentis Germanicae ad dexteram; ad levam [sic] cum publicis Magistratibus Rivoalti." and l.r.: "Mich.l Marieschi del.t et inci.t"

Location:

Venice; Italy;

Subject:

architecture

Credit line:
Collection Centre Canadien d'Architecture/
Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montréal