Peter Mequignon (1768-1826), 1794, Portrait Of Carlo Gozzi

Peter Mequignon (1768-1826), 1794
Portrait of Carlo Gozzi
Oil on board, 15 x 13 cm
Base cm 27 x 18
Dated and signed "P. Mequignon 1794"

The protagonist portrayed, identified by the inscription Carlo Gozzi Venetian poet, was a playwright and writer (1720-1806). The Gozzi took part animated within the diatribe with Carlo Goldoni and the need for a renewal in the Venetian theater, showing himself strenuous defender of the old artifices of the Commedia dell'Arte despite the innovations that was introducing the Goldoni. He composed a series of tragedies renewed with comic elements, of which, in the immediate, the public did not appreciate the new ideative vein. Gozzi was also interested in Spanish dramas, and he produced a series of fairy tales. The fairy tales of Carlo Gozzi published in Bologna for the types i Zanichelli in 1884, reproduce on the first page an engraved portrait of the poet, which has also been used by the artist of the present. 

Of French origin but of Irish nationality, already pupil of the Dublin Society’s Schools, Mequignon presented to the society in 1788 several pictorial replicas of paintings made by ancient masters, obtaining the praise. He moved to London to study at the Royal Academy and exhibited his work at the institution’s annual exhibitions. Back in Dublin, he exhibited many portraits at the local Artists' Society between 1800 and the following year, then followed his pictorial activity between Belfast and London. 

The object is in good condition