Lot 25: Nicolau Antonio Facchinetti (Italian, 1824-1900) A view of Rio de Janeiro from Barrio Cosme Velho 7 1/2 x 11in (19 x 28cm)

Nicolau Antonio Facchinetti (Italian, 1824-1900)
A view of Rio de Janeiro from Barrio Cosme Velho
signed and dated 'N. Facchinetti 1885' (lower right)
oil on artist's board
7 1/2 x 11in (19 x 28cm)
Footnotes

Provenance
Private collection, St. Paul, Minnesota, since 1982;
Acquired from the above by the present owner.

Nicolau Facchinetti was born in 1824 in Treviso, in the vicinity of Venice. The revolutionary year that rocked Europe in 1848 found him in Venice, completing his art studies and possibly being involved in a political movement that forced him to leave the country. He embarked for Brazil in 1849 and settled in Rio de Janeiro, where he started his artistic career as a stage designer. After establishing a reputation for himself, in 1863 he earned a certificate as a lecturer in art at the Imperial Academy of Rio de Janeiro.

Facchinetti devoted himself mostly to landscape painting and from 1870 he was encouraged in this subject by Princess Isabel, daughter of Emperor Pedro II, receiving the title of 'Landscape Painter of his Highness the Duke of Saxony in Brazil.' He also turned his attention to marine painting but is best known for his highly detailed, diminutive landscapes of Rio and Minas Gerais and their environs. His landscapes are infused with the warm light of a sunset or sunrise over a lush vegetation rendered in the greatest detail.