N. XII paesi inv. dal. Sig. Gasp. Galliari l'anno 1809

UNRECORDED SUITE OF IMAGINARY LANDSCAPES AND CITY VIEWS

Oblong folio (225x335 mm). 12 numbered etched plates (c. 155x190 mm) printed on the recto of as many leaves, including the title page. The plates are all signed by Galliari as designer and by three different engravers: Francesco Bellemo, Francesco Ambrosi and Gaspare Cagnoni. Contemporary marbled boards (rubbed and worn). Light marginal staining and foxing, but a very good, genuine copy.

Unrecored album of 12 etchings showing city views set in lagoon, river or lake landscapes, with bridges, arches and vaults, and imaginary cities composed of ancient buildings, in a style that seems to combine those of Canaletto and Piranesi. The first plate contains the title of the suite inscribed in a tombstone.

This series seem to be unrecorded. Only two of the plates are preserved at the Musei Civici in Monza and described as separate and not as part of an album.

Gaspare (or Gasparo) was born in Treviglio near Bergamo into a successful family of painters and set designers. Hecame captain of infantry in the Cisalpine Republic in 1799, then chief of staff of the army of the Kingdom of Italy in 1807. Around the same time he was also appointed as painter “vedutista” at the Istituto Geografico Militare in Milan. Before devoting himself to military life, in 1786 he had been involved in painting the scenery for the theater of Alessandria, in 1789 in Novara he had set up the celebrations for the wedding of the Duke of Aosta and in Milan he had worked as a scenographer at the Teatro della Cannobiana and at the Teatro Carcano. He died in Milano either in 1818 or 1823 depending on the sources. The collection of the Brera Pinacotheca in Milan contains one of his paintings depicting a view of Venice. He is considered as a master of scenography as he painted mostly for the theaters (cf. Numero 24 invenzioni teatrali di Gaspare Galliari, Milan, 1814; reprinted New York, 1970, D. Addis, ed.), but his name is also linked to a famous series of views of Milan designed in the years 1808-1810 (cf. D. Isella, ed., Milano capitale nelle vedute di Gasparo Galliari dedicate a Amalia di Beauharnais Viceregina d'Italia, Milan, 1975).

[12932]