Giovanni Piumati - 1850 1915 - Oil On Canvas - Corso Pascale Turin Alps Italy 19th Century

Giovanni PIUMATI (1850–1915) - Oil on canvas laid down on panel
Corso Pascale, Turin – View of the Alps

Oil on canvas laid down on panel, signed lower right.
Label on the reverse: Corso Pascale 46, Torino, Viuzza sulle Alpi, Col San Giovanni.

• Frame dimensions: 58 × 43 cm
•Sight dimensions: 44 × 30 cm

Condition: very good overall condition; one rubbed corner at lower left. Lack of varnish in the upper left corner (visible in the photographs).

Provenance: private French collection.

His works have appeared at public auction on 29 occasions. According to Artprice, the earliest recorded sale concerns the painting Nubi basse, presented in 1999 at Finarte (Painting), and the most recent concerns the work Ultimo sole, presented in 2025.

Giovanni Piumati studied at the Accademia Albertina in Turin, first under Enrico Gamba, then (1872–1876) under Antonio Fontanesi, of whom he was among the finest pupils in landscape painting. A highly regarded landscape painter, he pursued in parallel humanist studies, taking a degree in law (1871) and then in letters and philosophy (1878). From 1873 onwards he exhibited at the Promotrice Society of Fine Arts and, from 1874, at the Circle of Artists in Turin, without interruption until his death. He was also an art critic for the Gazzetta Piemontese (1877–1879) and later for La Stampa (from 1899).

From 1879 to 1889 he taught at the Rhenish University of Bonn and, simultaneously, at the Cologne Conservatory (Italian language and philology), where his pupils included the future Kaiser Wilhelm II. His passion for Leonardo da Vinci deepened thanks to the Russian prince Théodore Sabachnikoff, his pupil and patron. At the prince’s instigation Piumati transcribed and published the Codex on the Flight of Birds, several anatomical sheets (Windsor, British Museum, South Kensington/V&A) and, above all, the Codex Atlanticus (Biblioteca Ambrosiana), at the invitation of the Accademia dei Lincei, which earned him international renown among scholars.

From 1900 onwards he received various distinctions: honorary member of the Accademia Albertina and director of the Promotrice Society. He exhibited with success at the great National Exhibition at the Castello Sforzesco (Milan, 1906, on the occasion of the inauguration of the Simplon Tunnel). His clientele included members of the House of Savoy; his Plenilunio (1903) was acquired by the Civic Museum of Turin (GAM). Despite his scholarly work, he continued to paint, favouring landscapes in the lineage of Fontanesi.

Bibliographical references

• Editions of Leonardo da Vinci’s manuscripts (by Sabachnikoff, transcribed/annotated by G. Piumati):
– 1893 — Codice sul volo degli uccelli e varie altre materie, Paris, E. Rouveyre. Role of Piumati: transcription and notes.
– 1898 — Dell’anatomia. Fogli A, Paris, E. Rouveyre. Role: transcription and notes.
– 1901 — Dell’anatomia. Fogli B, Turin, Roux e Viarengo. Role: transcription and notes.
– 2019 — Codice sul volo degli uccelli e varie altre materie, re-ed. Vastophil. Modern reprint of the 1893 edition.

• Catalogues and studies on Giovanni Piumati:
– 1986 — Pittori dell’800: Giovanni Piumati, un artista da riscoprire, Turin, Galleria d’Arte Fogliato (exhibition catalogue).
– 1997 — Giovanni Piumati: pittore (1850–1915), Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio (monograph).
– 2015 — Giovanni Piumati, 1850–1915: la parabola artistica di un…, Comune di Bra (monograph/study).

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