Giovanni Migliara

Giovanni Migliara, a painter of historical and architectural scenes, was trained at the Brera Academy in Milan by Giovanni Albertolli (1742–1839), a sculptor and architect who was one of the academy’s founders. Migliara began his artistic career as a stage designer and scenographer under the guidance of Alessandro Sanquirico at the Scala and the Teatro Carcano in Milan. A lung disease having obliged him to renounce theatre scenery painting, he successfully turned his attention from 1810 onwards to the production of small-sized vedute in oils and watercolours. In contrast to his fellow Milanese artists, Andrea Appiani and Luigi Sabatelli, both of whom worked in a neoclassical idiom, Migliara frequently embraced historicising medieval themes that were entirely in keeping with the ideals of Italian Romanticism. The resulting works soon established him as one of the Milanese aristocracy’s favourite painters.

Migliara produced a modest corpus of rare prints, comprising only three etchings besides eleven lithographs. The bold foreshortening of the perspective in the present rare etching betrays his training as a stage designer. Equally apparent is the inspiration he derived from the etchings of Antonio Canaletto. In the older literature this little sheet is incorrectly described as a Roman veduta, although there can be no doubt that it is an architectural capriccio. The façade of the palazzo in the background clearly reveals the influence of northern Italian palace buildings in Lombardy and Veneto. The etching is on offer here in an early impression before the artist’s name. A superb, crisp and contrasting impression with even thread margins. Minor ageing, otherwise in excellent condition.

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