Gaspare Diziani 1659-1767. Venetian School 18th.Century. Pen and ink drawing. Eastern figures with parasols. 28 by 18.5 cms. Drawn on laid paper with rearing horse watermark, short taped repair to lower edge, small loss to lower right corner and horizontal crease to top, all to no real detriment. Provenance: From the Estate of Francis and Larissa Haskell. Francis Haskell (1928-2000) was a noted art historian, author and Professor of Art History at the University of Oxford. His wife Larissa (1931-2024) was a Russian art historian, and curator of Venetian drawings at the Hermitage.
Gaspare Diziani initially trained under Antonio Lazzarini at Belluno. Aged twenty, he travelled to Venice, where he worked in the workshops of Gregorio Lazzarini and Sebastiano Ricci. In 1717 he travelled to Rome and then Dresden to work for Augustus the Strong before moving on to Munich. In 1720 he returned to Venice where he then spent the majority of his life. In 1755 he was instrumental in the foundation of the Venetian Academy, he served as it's president from 1760-1762 and also in 1766. Diziani produced a large number of drawings that were collected during his lifetime by the French collector Pierre-Jean Mariette and the Venetian Ascanio Molin. The largest holding, with some 200 drawings, is in Venice's Museo Correr, with a further group held by the Städelsche Kunstinstitut's Graphische Sammlung.