SQUARCINA Giovanni (1825–1891) – Reclining Nude

SQUARCINA Giovanni (Zadar, Croatia, 1825 – Venice, 1891)
“Reclining Nude”
Oil on canvas
Signed lower right
Italy, 19th century
Canvas dimensions: 145 × 108 cm
Frame dimensions: 195 × 157 cm
Squarcina grew up in Dalmatia and studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia, where his teachers included Michelangelo Grigoletti, Francesco Bagnara, Tranquillo Orsi, and Giuseppe Borsato.
After completing his studies, he became a highly sought-after portrait painter among the bourgeoisie and the clergy, but his true passion lay in large-scale historical paintings, such as his masterpiece “Galileo’s Abjuration before the Tribunal of the Holy Inquisition” (now preserved at the Archivio-Museo della Dalmazia, Scuola Dalmata dei SS. Giorgio e Trifone, in Venice).
His works appear very rarely on the market and are held in private collections and museums in Croatia and Italy.
Exhibitions: Milan, Bologna, Venice.