Contact gallery for price		Giuseppe Canella the Elder Verona 1788 – 1847 Florence Village Scene with Donkeys Oil on canvas 7 1/2 x 9 3/4 inches (19 x. 24.5 cm.) Framed: 11 1/2 x 13 1/2 inches Signed: Canella 1825 Guiseppe Canella was the son of architect Giovanni Canella, whom Giuseppe assisted in theatrical design. He traveled in Spain and later in France, where he stayed from 1823 to 1833. He divided his time between Fontainbleau and Paris. Canella exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1826 and 1827. He then returned to Italy in 1833 and based out of Milan. Late in his life, he became a professor at the Venice Academy. He gained a reputation as a fine painter of precisely rendered landscapes and urban views. The master's work is exhibited in Paris and the Brera in Milan. Canella's son, also Giuseppe (1837-1913) became an accomplished artist of landscapes and urban view. Our painting offers a pleasant scene in a quaint Dutch village, where travelers and local villagers alike engage in friendly business and conversation. Near the center of the picture, a confident group of men sporting gentrified dress lean on their walking sticks as they converse amiably. To the right, a donkey, weighed down by heavy saddlebags, stands by a covered cart as several figures load sacks into the back. In the left foreground, another pair of donkeys rest by the side of a building, as a woman in a red scarf comforts a child and a man stops to light his cigarette. Behind them, a large crowd gathers beside a stagecoach that has stopped beside another cluster of buildings. Canella has organized the space to emphasize the receding line of the street, as it curves around and vanishes behind the tall building in the right foreground. The sharply angled lines of the stone wall and dark building in the immediate foreground help the space to visually retreat, guiding our eye towards the background where the objects grow smaller and shift in hue and value. However, Canella's particular skill here is communicating the spirit of village life through his portrayal of detail: the textures and colors of the uneven cobblestones in the streets and architecture, the dirty scattered straw and the rough peasant clothing. Canella then offers a relief from the coarse, almost crude, foreground to the sublime mountain landscape beyond. This visual path is indicated by the use of strong yellow hues near the center of the foreground, extending to a softer pastel palette of pale lavender and green.