FRANCESCO ZUGNO

(Venice, 1709 - 1787) Holy Family with St. John Oil on canvas, 74X61 cm Provenance: Munich, Hampel, 2 April 2020, lot 540 Francesco Zugno learned his early trade in his family's workshop and at the Venetian Academy of Painting and Sculpture. Between 1730 and 1737 he was a collaborator of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo and after this last date he began his career on his own, producing paintings for the Church of San Lazzaro degli Armeni. The artist is to be considered an interpreter of Tiepolo and Rococo culture, but his art is not immune to neoclassical suggestions, especially if we look at his mature production, as can be seen in the canvas under examination, which can be placed in the last years of his activity. For comparison, we can cite The Adoration of the Shepherds (formerly Sotheby's London, 29 October 2009, lot 112), in which the faces of St Joseph and the Virgin correspond precisely in physiognomy and style (cf. R. Pallucchini, La Pittura nel Veneto. Il Settecento, Milan 1996, II, pp. 201-218, figs. 292-324).