30 - Antonio Diziani (Venice 1737–1797)

Antonio Diziani (Venice 1737–1797) Interior with a Child Eating Polenta Oil on canvas mounted on panel 71.5 x 95 cm Along with the interiors *Autumn* and *Winter* housed at the Museo degli Eremitani in Padua, this work is among Antonio Diziani’s depictions of scenes from everyday life set in large rural settings. Antonio was the son of the famous painter Gaspare Diziani. In some works, he collaborated with his father as a landscape painter. In fact, his career diverged from his father’s style, favoring landscape and genre themes. Following in the vein of the Venetian tradition, led by Francesco Zuccarelli and Giuseppe Zais, he was able to broaden his vision to include the northern styles of the Flemish and Dutch traditions. He preferred a delicate, fluid style, bathed in light, to the languid Arcadian visions of his illustrious colleagues, with a predilection for cool and vivid hues. Rather than the busy figures of Marco Ricci or the placid peasants of Zuccarelli and Zais, he preferred figures often drawn from the common people, infused with a burlesque spirit. Antonio Diziani (Venice 1737–1797) Interior with a Child Eating Polenta Oil on canvas mounted on panel 71.5 × 95 cm This work, along with the interiors depicting Autumn and Winter preserved at the Eremitani Museum in Padua, belongs to Antonio Diziani’s series of depictions of scenes from everyday life set within spacious rural interiors.