Lot 115 D

Born near the town of Ravenna, famous for its early wall paintings and mosaics, the painter Franco Gentilini initially worked as a ceramicist and in the field of wall painting - together with Giorgio Morandi in Bologna, among other projects. In the late 1920s he often travelled to Paris and was invited to a number of Venice Biennales. Living in Rome from the early 1930s, he quickly gained artistic renown as part of the group centred around the Caffé Ragno, which served as a gathering place for artists belonging to the Scuola Romana, such as Cagli, Mucci, Falqui, Sinisgalli and de Libero. However, Gentilini also frequently stayed in Venice during this period and, as a favourite artist of Carlo Cardazzo, founder of the Galleria Cavallino, his work was exhibited together with that of De Chirico, Carrà, Fontana and Morandi. Cardazzo was among the art dealers favoured by the Guggenheim family.
The works that Franco Gentilini created after World War II are particularly cherished by private collectors; in the 1950s he worked on a series of “cathedrals”.
The special charm of these works is founded on the graphic reduction of their motif - as in the case here, which features the iconic Venetian architecture of St Mark's Square with a view of the basilica as well as staffage figures - and the haptic effect of a fresco.