LOVISA, Domenico - b. ~1690 Venezia, d. ~1750 Venezia

Italian publisher. His printing press was situated ‘underneath the arches at Rialto’ in Venice, and he is known almost exclusively for the publication of a series of large prints, titled Il Gran Teatro di Venezia ovvero descrizione esatta di cento delle piu` insigni prospettive e di altretante celebri pitture della medesima citta`. The first edition is undated, but it probably came out c. 1717. As originally planned, the series was to include 200 prints, but this ambition was not realized, and even the second edition (1720, 2 vols) has only c. 120 prints. The approximately 57 plates contained in the first volume reproduce paintings that hung in Venetian public buildings, including works by Veronese, Titian, Tintoretto, Palma Giovane. They were engraved by Andrea Zucchi, Domenico Rossetti (1650-1736), Giacomo Burri, Domenico Bonavera (b 1640), Pietro Sante Bartoli, Agostino dalla Via and others. The second volume contains a varying number (up to 66) of views of Venice engraved by Filippo Vasconi (1687-1730), Giuseppe Valeriani (d 1761), Carlo and Andrea Zucchi, as well as an unidentified monogrammist, S.F. This series was reprinted a number of times in the 18th century.

Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo

A painting of this subject with the same lighting by Canaletto was derived from this print. The lighting is illogical for two reasons: the sun cannot have cast shadows on the south side of the church any more than it could have shone simultaneously on the fa�ade of the Scuola di San Marco, barely visible on the far left. The print Lovisa published is modelled on a print by Silvestre. Canaletto was not the first painter to avail himself of this composition; at least a half century earlier the Netherlander Abraham Storck — who is not known to have ever visited Venice — based a painting on Silvestre’s print; here, however, Santi Giovanni e Paolo has been miraculously transported to the shores of the Mediterranean.