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Lot Essay
The Grand Tour phenomenon, which began in the 18th Century, led to the popularity of souvenir paintings by masters such as Canaletto and Guardi. Wealthy young men from Britain, Germany and other northern European countries would travel to the cradle of classical civilization, mainly Italy and Greece, as a culmination of their cultural education. Very often their travels would end in Venice, Rome, Florence or even as far as Athens, giving rise to a large demand in such souvenir paintings. By the 19th Century, following the decline of the Grand Tour but with the introduction of a more general tourism there was an increased demand in paintings of monuments and sites of the Golden cities of classical civilization.
Born in El Escorial, Madrid, Rico had his formal education at the San Fernando School in this city. It was not long after his graduation that he took to painting outdoors and travelled widely through Spain. He won a government scholarship to study in Paris, where he was influenced by Daubigny and the Barbizon School. Due to the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war in 1870 he returned to Spain and in 1872 he began touring Italy, accompanied by Mariano Fortuny, where he was above all impressed by the glory of Venice whose sights and light he captured in countless paintings. Rico would spend every summer after 1879 in Venice where he would rent a palazzo, and would often work sitting in a gondola, sketching buildings and bridges as seen from the water.
In 1878 Paul Lefort, a well known art critic of his time, wrote of Rico in La Gazette des Beaux-Arts: 'Although a fanatic when it comes to light, and an aficionado of rare and augmented color tonalities, which in his works, resemble precious stones, he refrains from overstepping the limits of human vision... The Grand Canal of Venice, the Slaves' Wharf, his views of Rome, of Toledo, of the Escorial and of Granada are ... inimitable morceaux which reveal his talents in composition as well as his care in execution' (C. Gonzales and M. Marti, Spanish Painters in Rome 1850-1900, Madrid, 1987, pp. 182-3).
In the present work Rico depicts the Scuola San Marco at the Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo. The school had been transferred from the Santa Croce quarter to its current location in 1437. In 1485 a fire destroyed the original wooden structure, which had a fine spiral staircase designed by Gentile Bellini. In 1489 the reconstruction of the building was assigned to Pietro Lombardo, who then had been working on the construction of the Doge's Palace and to Giovanni Buora. Due to the quarrel between the two architects, the commission of the building was passed on to another architect, Mauro Codussi, whose contribution to the building plan is most apparent on the facade of the building, particularly it's upper parts. The Scuola Grandi di San Marco was for many years the richest guild in Venice. It held the Miracles of St. Mark by Tintoretto (now divided between the Academia and the Brera Museum in Milan) as well as canvases by Palma the Elder and Paris Bordone.
Born in El Escorial, Madrid, Rico had his formal education at the San Fernando School in this city. It was not long after his graduation that he took to painting outdoors and travelled widely through Spain. He won a government scholarship to study in Paris, where he was influenced by Daubigny and the Barbizon School. Due to the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war in 1870 he returned to Spain and in 1872 he began touring Italy, accompanied by Mariano Fortuny, where he was above all impressed by the glory of Venice whose sights and light he captured in countless paintings. Rico would spend every summer after 1879 in Venice where he would rent a palazzo, and would often work sitting in a gondola, sketching buildings and bridges as seen from the water.
In 1878 Paul Lefort, a well known art critic of his time, wrote of Rico in La Gazette des Beaux-Arts: 'Although a fanatic when it comes to light, and an aficionado of rare and augmented color tonalities, which in his works, resemble precious stones, he refrains from overstepping the limits of human vision... The Grand Canal of Venice, the Slaves' Wharf, his views of Rome, of Toledo, of the Escorial and of Granada are ... inimitable morceaux which reveal his talents in composition as well as his care in execution' (C. Gonzales and M. Marti, Spanish Painters in Rome 1850-1900, Madrid, 1987, pp. 182-3).
In the present work Rico depicts the Scuola San Marco at the Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo. The school had been transferred from the Santa Croce quarter to its current location in 1437. In 1485 a fire destroyed the original wooden structure, which had a fine spiral staircase designed by Gentile Bellini. In 1489 the reconstruction of the building was assigned to Pietro Lombardo, who then had been working on the construction of the Doge's Palace and to Giovanni Buora. Due to the quarrel between the two architects, the commission of the building was passed on to another architect, Mauro Codussi, whose contribution to the building plan is most apparent on the facade of the building, particularly it's upper parts. The Scuola Grandi di San Marco was for many years the richest guild in Venice. It held the Miracles of St. Mark by Tintoretto (now divided between the Academia and the Brera Museum in Milan) as well as canvases by Palma the Elder and Paris Bordone.