Mattia Jona, Master Drawings and Prints, Japanese Prints - Piazzetta Guastalla 5, 20122 Milan, Italy, tel (+39) 02 8053315

ANTONIO GIUSEPPE BASOLI (Castelguelfo 1774 - Bologna 1843) A PAIR OF DRAWINGS PASTED TOGETHER BACK TO BACK: a) A TRIUMPHAL BUILDING, INSCRIBED 'ALLI VINCITORI SOLTANTO E' RISERBATA LA CORONA DI GLORIA'. b) A NEOCLASSICAL ARCHITECTURAL PROJECT
a) Pen and brown ink, watercolour. Signed in pen and brown ink 'A. Basoli'; 452 x 695 mm.
b) Pen and black ink, grey wash. Titled in pen and brown ink 'Sezione interna dell'Anfiteatro, o sia T..... per la distribuzione de' Premi, secondo le linee puntegiate che vedesi nella Pianta G.'. Inscribed in pencil by modern hands 'A. Basoli (firmato)', 'Antonio Basoli' and 'Secolo XVIII / Basoli'. 452 x 695 mm. PROVENANCE: four stamped collectors' marks, all unidentified. LITERATURE: A. Cera, 'Disegni, Acquarelli, Tempere di Artisti Italiani dal 1770 circa al 1830 circa', Bologna 2002, ad vocem, illustrated, no. 17, volume I.

The son of a quadraturist painter, Antonio Basoli studied at the Accademia Clementina under Gaetano Gandolfi and the sculptor Giuseppe Mazza. His specialty as a decorator was 'quadratura', or the kind of feigned architectural perspectives so dear to the Bolognese. In 1803, on the restructuring of the Accademia under Napoleon's orders, Basoli was appointed professor of ornamental design, a post he held until 1826. Basoli worked on, after the advent of Napoleon, as a scenery designer and many of his design were engraved by his brother Luigi. He did work in the new Teatro Comunale in Bologna, built in 1809.