Achille Battistuzzi

ACHILLE BATTISTUZZI (Trieste - Barcelona, 1891).
"View of Barcelona".1878.
Oil on canvas.
Signed, dated and located in the lower right corner.
Attached to the back a label of Barrachina & Ramoneda.
Measurements: 90 x 131 cm; 110 x 151 cm (frame).
Achile Battistuzzi was an Italian painter who lived in Barcelona for most of his life, giving the Catalan capital magnificent port and urban views. In the painting shown here, Battistuzzi's mastery in working the space in a scenographic way is evident, superimposing with naturalness the mountainous landscape (the area of Montjuïc) and the port of Barcelona that can be glimpsed in the background, crisscrossed with boats. The Reales Atarazanas divide the maritime front and the margins of the city. The author displays in this panoramic view his skills as a veduttista (meticulous in the details of the boats) and an audacious light work (appreciable in the atmospheric set). The rural area with its peasants and the port area with its fishing boats form two parallel realities.
Achille Battistuzzi settled in Barcelona around 1866. He specialized in landscape paintings with urban scenes. He is known for his mastery of technique and for his objectivity, precision and good use of perspective. He was one of the introducers of Venetian Vedutism in Catalonia, following the influences of Canaletto and Guardi.
In the collection of the National Museum of Art of Catalonia is his work "El pla de la Boqueria". Painted around 1873, the work was exhibited at the Universal Exposition of Barcelona in 1888 along with another of his paintings, Cathedral of Palencia. The Museum of History of Barcelona has nine of the artist's works, and the Historical Archive of the City of Barcelona has two oil paintings, two watercolors, two drawings and two engravings. The Maritime Museum of Barcelona keeps in its collection the canvas entitled "Vista de las Reales Atarazanas de Barcelona y de la Montaña de Montjuïc" (View of the Royal Shipyards of Barcelona and the Mountain of Montjuïc), from 1827.