GIUSEPPE BERNARDINO BISON (Palmanova 1762 - Milan 1844) THE RETURN OF THE BUCENTAURUS ON ASCENSION DAY Canvas The return of the Bucentaur on Ascension Day, canvas 57 x 76 CM - 22,4 x 30 IN. PROVENANCE : In the same Bordeaux family since the 1920s. Bison trained at the Academy of Venice under Costantino Cedini. He first worked as a decorative painter for the theatre, creating numerous frescoes in palaces and villas in Ferrara, Padua, Treviso, Udine, Trieste and the surrounding area. He subsequently established himself as one of the great inheritors of the Venetian veduta tradition at the turn of the 18th century, perpetuating easel paintings depicting landscapes, architectural whims, mythological scenes and Venetian views. The painting presented here belongs to the last phase of Bison's artistic activity. He continued the pictorial tradition of the great Venetian masters of the 18th century with a whimsical interpretation of one of the most famous views of the Serenissima, Saint Mark's Square and the Doge's Palace, made famous throughout Europe by Canaletto, Guardi, Marieschi and Carlevarijs. The Bucentaurus was the boat driven by the Doge of Venice on Ascension Day, crossing the lagoon towards the church of San Niccolo in a procession that symbolically linked Venice to the sea. Our painting was intended as a counterpart to a View of the Regatta on the Grand Canal, as presented in Rome in 2009 in the exhibition Cento capolavori di pitura dal XVI al XVIII secolo. Maestri italiani ed europei (Galleria Cesare Lampronti, no. 65-66, p. 116). Like Canaletto, Bison produced several versions of the Bucentaurus (Christie's sale, New York, 15 April 2008, lot 299; Dorotheum sale, Vienna, 19).