24. Piazza San Marco Looking South and West, 1763.
Oil on canvas, 56.5 x 102.9 cm.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles.
Unlike the citizens of Athens, who crowned Aristophanes with roses, even though he had just punished them with his biting satires, Goldoni’s countrymen never knew how to appreciate their poets’ value, and they let the most interesting one get away. On the occasion of the revival of Harlequin’s Child Lost and Found, a play written at the request of Cacchi by an Italian theatre that had been established in Paris, Goldoni went to France for a two-year engagement for which he would receive a respectable remuneration. A passionate admirer of Molière, whom he considered the greatest comic among the ancients and moderns, he always wanted to learn of France, its men of letters, and Parisian society so highly praised for its wit and from which he hoped to gain great praise for his talent. He was soon bound in service to Mesdames, the king’s daughters, as their Italian tutor. Though no real position in the court was available, in exchange for some lessons he gave to the unmarried Madame Adelaide, he was able to secure lodgings at Versailles. He took part in every voyage and attended the court’s shows. In the end, his protectors provided him with a payment of four thousand pounds and released him from all of his duties. Goldoni turned a deaf ear to requests sent to him from London, Portugal and his fellow countrymen, remaining in Paris. During 1771, the success of Le Bourru Bienfaisant, which played with the support of Molé, Reville and Madame Bellecour, was one of the most vivid joys of his life. By nicknaming him “the Italian Molière”, his contemporaries had certainly not overstepped the boundaries of truth any more than when they likened Metastasio to Sophocles.[7]
Along with these diverse poets, some exceptional women graced Venetian society with their charming spirits and talent. One was Luisa Bergalli who, although spending her youth in a cobbler’s workshop, married the noble, Count Gaspard Gozzi. Marvellously gifted, she excelled in embroidery and, before she gave herself over to letters, she learned how to paint from Rosalba. Her translations of Terence’s plays, which garnered praise from Apostolo Zeno, her canzone and diverse theatrical works all bore witness to her skills, which were some of the rarest. No less famous was Rosalba Carriera, nicknamed the “Queen of Pastels”, who was celebrated when she travelled to France. She sold her portraits for thirty zecchinos and Charles de Brosses offered her twenty-five gold louis for a Magdalene no larger than his hand and a mere copy of Correggio. Though we excessively praise her graceful manner and charming colours, on the other hand we tend to forget about her master, the noble Giovanni Antonio Lazzeri.
Although the decline in painting was more noticeable than the glory of its zenith, the Venetian school, fallen into a period when the masters were considered to be frivolous and friendly, still counted some outstanding names. The prestige of Giorgione, Titian, Veronese and Tintoretto had not died out in the least, but their examples were hardly ever followed. One was more likely to head in the direction of the Carracci brothers or Pierre de Carone, or towards eclectics like Giambologna, the mannerists of Rome, or the imitators of Caravaggio. Like them, Venetians exaggerated their effects and loaded their canvases with dark shadows that compromised the longevity of the painting. These tenebrous styles were in vogue at the end of the seventeenth century. Without regard for the great painting traditions, the following era attempted a renewal. All the individual talents that then manifested themselves generated interest, not to mention that their work was not defective. Thus, a group made up of artists like Ricci, Tiepolo, Canaletto, and several minor masters like Milinari, Guardi and Longhi, would form around an excellent designer like Gregorio Lazzarini. They all deserve to be remembered with praise.