Francesco Casanova (London, 1727 – Vorderbrühl, 1803), Rest at the Fountain. At the bottom, the acronym FC indicates the author, Francesco Casanova, brother of the famous Giacomo. Francesco Casanova was a student of Francesco Guardi, Antonio Joli and Francesco Simonini in Venice. He was one of the most fashionable landscape painters and battalists in eighteenth-century Europe. He worked in Paris, Dresden and many other places; always appreciated for his highly elegant tone. He mixed the Venetian tradition with the French Rococo, by Antoine Watteau and Honoré Fragonard. This painting compares well with the works made for the royal manufacture of Beauvais in France in the mid-eighth decade of the eighteenth century. The painting represents a genre scene, with a noble and elegant company caught paused at a fountain during a falcon hunt. A gentleman in a blue doublet with two hunting dogs turns to a lady with a hunting falcon on his arm. The other three people are servants. A rider lets his horse drink from the well. A hunter sits on a white horse and a servant kneels in front of the couple. The elegant couple is highlighted in the picture by the bright colours and the lighting, while the servants are integrated into the surroundings in terms of colour. The painting shines in every way; in composition, colouring and a lively brushwork. Monogrammed FC in the lower center. Oil on canvas. c. 1775. 34 x 38 cm
