Antonio Reyna - View Of Venice With St. Mark's Square In The Background

oil on canvas
35 x 75 cm
signed lower left 'A. Reyna Venezia'

Antonio Reyna de Manescau (Coin, 1859 - Rome, 1937) was born in Spain and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Malaga. 

He specialised from the outset in costume painting subjects, which made him so popular with critics that he was awarded a scholarship by the Malaga Deputation in 1882.

Thanks to this funding, Antonio Reyna de Manescau was able to perfect his skills in Italy. In the first half of the 1880s, he was therefore in Rome, where he immediately came into contact with the Spanish artist community. The Spanish painter frequented the Caffè Greco and married a famous opera singer. He thus immediately achieved considerable success, also thanks to his wife's numerous acquaintances, which brought him prestigious commissions.

In 1885, Antonio Reyna de Manescau decided to spend some time in Venice, where he frequented the circle of Spanish artists at the Caffè Florian. He inaugurated a luminous and vibrant vedutismo, often populated by costumed characters, against the backdrop of the calli, bridges and canals of a Venice bathed in intense light.

At this point, nicknamed 'el pintor de Venecia' by the Spaniards, he became so famous that he signed a contract with the Maison Goupil in Paris and produced eleven, scenographic vedutas for it, which were then passed on to the American market.