The splendid Veduta del porto di Livorno is also striking in virtue of the sheer breadth of the view  [...].

Carlo Bossoli was born near Lugano but spent his childhood and youth in Odessa on the Black Sea, where he developed an interest in drawing. Initially self-taught, he then took lessons from a certain Nannini, a pupil of the well-known set designer Alessandro Sanquirico, from whom he learned the basics of perspective painting and the compositional method of downward views and diagonals used from them on in the vast number of topographically accurate landscapes for which he became widely known.¹ 

Having previously visited Italy, he moved there in 1843 and took up residence the following year - while continuing to travel - in Milan, where he showed work at the Brera for the first time in 1845. He then travelled through Britain and visited Paris and London, cities that he captured in splendid views teeming with figures, before moving to Turin in 1853. His skill in portraying places, monuments and events soon established his reputation in the 1850s as an authentic artistreporter. ² In 1851 he was commissioned by the Savoy government to produce a series of sixteen views in tempera of the new Turin-Genoa railway line, which were then published as splendid chromolithographs in the book Views on the Railway between Turin and Genoa (London, 1853).³ The painter’s relations with Turin and the ruling House of Savoy were strengthened over the following years in the struggle for Italy’s liberation. From 1859 on, Bossoli accompanied the Sardinian army all through the Second War of Independence to sketch the locations of the major military actions that led to national unification. These drawings then served as studies for a series of 105 views in tempera (Turin, Museo Nazionale del Risorgimento) commissioned by Prince Eugenio di Savoia Carignano and presented in 1861 at the National Exhibition in Florence. Such was their success that he was appointed royal history painter (9 May 1862) and acclaimed in the press. Now famous and overburdened with commissions, Bossoli continued to work in Turin until the last few days of his life, producing countless views of places in Piedmont and Italy, including the two works now in the Cerruti Collection. Both signed and dated 1865, identical in measurements, technique and style, they were probably produced as companion pieces. While the records of the Cerruti Collection shed no light on their provenance, it can be assumed on the basis of the lot numbers and dates of sale (24 and 25 November 1983) indicated on the back that they were bought at an auction. Bossoli visited Genoa repeatedly during his career and his sketchbooks contain numerous notes on stays in the city. 

In this light and airy Veduta di Genova dal mare, where Genoa nestles on the bluish slopes between a vast azure sky full of fraying clouds and the foaming expanse of waves (with the pier in the foreground acting as a repoussoir), the topographer’s typical focus on description and documentation is evident in the rendering of architectural landmarks such as the fortification and the unmistakeable Lanterna, the lighthouse on the Molo Vecchio and the bell tower of the former church of Sant’Agostino, ending on the right with the basilica of Santa Maria Assunta on the hill of Carignano. 

The splendid Veduta del porto di Livorno is also striking in virtue of the sheer breadth of the view, encompassing the city all the way from the southern mouth of the harbour, watched over by the two beacons, to the imposing ramparts of the Fortezza Vecchia and continuing as far as the shoal of Meloria and the peaks of the Apuan Alps. The painter’s deft mastery of the tempera technique enables him to capture the evening light with extraordinary effectiveness as well as the transparency of a wind-lashed sea traversed by humble fishing boats and brigantines flying the Italian flag. 

Monica Tomiato

¹ L. Mana, “Carlo Bossoli da Lugano. Pittore-storico al tempo del Risorgimento”, in Mollisi 2011, p. 641.

² Marini 2013, p. 75.

³ See Dragone P. 2001, pp. 174-175.