Giovan Battista Dell'acqua (milan, 1790-1845), Marina With Fortress, 1833

Giovan Battista dell'Acqua (Milan, 1790-1845)

Marina with fortress, 1833

Oil on canvas, cm 12 x 12

Frame, cm 21 x 21

Signed and dated on the back

Bibliography: Thieme-Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler, Leipzig 1992; Encyclopedic Dictionary of Italian painters and engravers from the eleventh to the twentieth century, Turin 1972

 

Giovan Battista dell'Acqua was born in a bourgeois family in Milan on 13 August 1890; interested since his youth in the art of painting, he studied with the famous Lombard landscape painter Giovanni Migliara, whose work had a remarkable impact on the artistic production of the young Milanese painter. Dell'Acqua, having reached artistic maturity, presented his works on several occasions at the main exhibition events in Lombardy of the nineteenth century: he participated, for example, to the promoter of Brera of 1824, presenting two works of small format but exemplary technical expertise, The underground of a cloister and Interior of a cave of a hermit. Throughout his career, the artist was mainly dedicated to the creation of small-format landscapes, representing picturesque views of his homeland, Lombardy (exemplified in this sense is a beautiful view of the Roman Port ship, currently in private collection), but also views admired during his many trips - the destinations of many of which were Naples and Venice - or fantasy scenarios. His works were very popular and particularly appreciated by collectors of the nascent Milanese bourgeois class, despite the criticism that he was accused of a certain degree of rigidity. 

This work perfectly summarizes all the key features of the artist’s production, such as the use of soft colors and the rendering of a faint moonlight.