Gaspare DIZIANI (Belluno 1689 - Venice 1767) - Lot 102

Gaspare DIZIANI (Belluno 1689 - Venice 1767) The Preaching of Saint John the Baptist Oil on canvas. H. 82 x W.65 cm This hitherto unpublished composition is a major contribution to Gaspare Diziani's body of work. Unknown to T. Miotti (1) and A.P. Zuani-Tauro (2) in their catalog raisonné, but hypothesized with another composition - Christ's Baptism - our painting was the subject of a preparatory drawing (3) preserved in the collections of the Correr Museum in Venice, which immediately confirms the attribution. This is a lively drawing, typical of Diziani, in which the figures in the foreground, that of St. John the Baptist and those in the background below, are detailed in rapid brown ink pen. Only the one on the right, representing an Oriental, was replaced in the version of the painting by three others equally picturesque. The painting clearly dates from Diziani's maturity, between 1740 and 1750. 1. T. Miotti, Gaspare Diziani, 1971, p.337, fig.3. 2. A.P. Zuani-Tauro, Alfieri, Venice, 1971. 3. Teriso Pignati, Disegni Antichi del museo Correr di Venezia, volume II, n°304, p.75, reproduced, see attached photo.