Andrea Biondetti
Painter of Venetian Views · Canals, Gondolas and the Lagoon · Venice, 1851–1946
Andrea Biondetti belongs to a large and mostly anonymous group: the painters of early twentieth century Venice who made small, finely drawn views of the city for the visitors who filled it. Auction houses in Britain, Italy, Switzerland and the United States give his dates as 1851–1946. His pictures turn up again and again on the market, and yet no published biography of him seems to exist. What survives is the work, and the work is consistent.
A Name Known Through Its Pictures
askART lists more than ninety Biondetti lots sold at auction between 2002 and 2016, under the heading “No Biography Available”. Bonhams catalogues him cautiously as “born after 1851, died after 1946”, which tells you that the dates come from the trade rather than from a birth register or an obituary. Nothing has yet surfaced on his training, his teachers or any exhibitions. A collector should know that before buying, and a dealer should say so.
The Venice He Painted
His subjects keep to a short list of the views visitors came for: the Riva degli Schiavoni and the Doge’s Palace, Piazza San Marco, Santa Maria della Salute, the Bridge of Sighs, gondolas on the Grand Canal, and above all the quiet side canals the catalogues call “Venetian backwaters”. He draws architecture well. Façades sit square, windows line up, and his gondolas sit properly on the water.
Scale and Format
Biondetti worked small. Recorded sheets run from about 14 by 23 cm to 30 by 18 cm, and framed examples usually measure around 11 by 15 inches. Most are upright canal views. Our painting, about 10 by 14½ inches in its frame, falls squarely in that range.
Sold to Travellers
The labels on his frames show how his pictures travelled. One “Bridge of Sighs” carries a gold label from Fred Olsson’s Art Shop in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Another was framed by the Anderson Art Co. A third, dated about 1924, was later sold by a Swiss gallery. Visitors bought them in Venice and carried them home to be framed or reframed, which is exactly the route our painting’s Venetian retailer’s label points to.
The Question of Medium
Almost every recorded Biondetti is a watercolour on paper. Our painting has been confirmed as oil. That does not rule him out, since many view painters of the period worked in both media, but we have not yet found a documented Biondetti oil to set beside it. For that reason we describe the picture as attributed to Biondetti rather than by him.
Why Biondetti Matters
Painters like Biondetti carried the old Venetian veduta into the age of the steamship and the railway. Their pictures were made to be bought, and that is why so many have lasted: they were hung, looked after and passed down. A well-drawn Biondetti canal is an honest, appealing record of the city just before the motorboat changed it, and it is still within reach of collectors who are starting out.
A Life in the Record
Birth year given for Andrea Biondetti in auction catalogues (Bonhams records it as “born after 1851”).
Canal views catalogued as late nineteenth century, offered by Callea Antichità, Como.
Dated example, Gondolas on the Grand Canal, watercolour, later offered by Galerie Tonon, Switzerland.
Death year given in auction catalogues.
More than ninety lots recorded at auction by askART.
An oil canal view signed in his manner, with an A. Genova Venice retailer’s label, enters the Eclection in Reno.
Biondetti is a painter known almost entirely through his pictures, and they show a steady hand that understood how the city is built. Ours stands out because it is in oil and still carries its Venetian retailer’s label, which keeps the story of its sale attached to it.Viridian Eclection, Reno
Inquire About Available Works
Works by Andrea Biondetti come to the Eclection one at a time. If you own a work by Andrea Biondetti, or have letters, photographs or papers connected with the artist, we would like to hear from you.
