Palmanova 1762 – Milan 1844

Born in Palmanova in Friuli in 1762, Giuseppe Bernardino Bison occupies a special place among the painters who prolonged the veduta tradition, spanning the 18th and 19th centuries. An eclectic and versatile artist, he also left behind an important oeuvre as a painter and decorator, following in the footsteps of Tiepolo, Guardi, Ricci, Zaïs and Diziani. Numerous palaces and villas in Ferrara, Padua, Treviso, Udine, Trieste and the surrounding areas bear witness to his ability as a fresco painter. Working from an easel and devoting himself primarily to topographical vedute, he nevertheless tackled a wide variety of subjects, including fantasy. Other than these two aspects of his art, he produced an impressive number of graphic works. In 1831, he settled in Milan and from 1834 to 1838, he went on a series of journeys which took him successively to Florence, Rome, Naples and Paestum, thus broadening his repertoire as a painter of vedute. In addition to the variety of his subjects, it is worth noting the exceptional quality of his pictorial execution. This established him as one of the finest followers of the 18th-century Venetian veduta tradition.