BORSATO, Giuseppe

With the Peace of Bratislava (1805), Venice was incorporated into the French Empire. It was decided that a new sovereign’s residence was required for Napoleon and the viceroy, Eug�ne de Beauharnais. Once the idea of converting the Palazzo Ducale had been abandoned, the notion was mooted to use the Procuratie Nuove and the Libreria Marciana for this purpose.

The picture shows part of the decoration in the gallery of the Palazzo Reale, executed by Giuseppe Borsato during Napoleon’s reign.

The Neo-classical movement in Venice included a number of artists of note, who often painted the cultivated and refined decorations for buildings erected or renovated in the period. This scene depicts the funerary ceremony held in honour of Antonio Canova on October 16, 1822. Leopoldo Cicognara, director of the Accademia and a leading exponent of Neo-classicism in Italy, is portrayed in the act of declaiming the funeral oration. A copy of Titian’s Assumption provides a symbolic bridge that links the recently deceased artist to his illustrious predecessor.

The painting documents with almost photographic precision the interior of the Assembly Room in the Scuola Grande della Carità after the provisional reopening of the reopening of the Gallerie dell’Academia in 1817.

With the Peace of Bratislava (1805), Venice was incorporated into the French Empire. It was decided that a new sovereign’s residence was required for Napoleon and the viceroy, Eug�ne de Beauharnais. Once the idea of converting the Palazzo Ducale had been abandoned, the notion was mooted to use the Procuratie Nuove and the Libreria Marciana for this purpose.

The picture shows part of the decoration in the gallery of the Palazzo Reale, executed by Giuseppe Borsato during Napoleon’s reign.