The Birth of Christ in Venice

(1687 Venice - 1767 ibid). The Nativity with the Holy Spirit. A night scene with the infant Christ lying in a manger on blankets, to whom Mary addresses with reverence, closeness, love, and humility, while a dove of the Holy Spirit hovers above. This is a late Baroque work, executed around 1730-1740, with effective light and color treatment and is considered one of the main representatives of Venetian Rococo alongside Tiepolo. The sought-after and revered artist was the founder of the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice and served as its president from 1759 to 1761. Pittioni received many significant commissions from Italy, Germany, Austria, and Poland. The painting is likely an earlier study or a fragment of Pittioni's well-known large-scale work "The Nativity with God the Father and the Holy Spirit", created around 1740, in the National Gallery in London (Inv. No. NG6279; dimensions 222.7 cm x 153.5 cm), where the present small composition focuses entirely on the figure group of the Madonna with the Holy Spirit. Although this figure group largely corresponds to that of the other painting, the light and color treatment clearly differ. The painting in London has a brighter, more vivid color treatment and soft lighting compared to the night-time, effectively depicted scene. Among other comparable paintings is "The Head of the Virgin" (La Tête de Vierge), painted by Pittioni around 1730, in the Museum of Fine Arts in Strasbourg, as well as another version of Mary (around 1730-1735) in the State Art Gallery in Berlin (Inv. No. 1918). Oil on canvas, relined; 28.5 cm x 23.5 cm. Framed. Accompanied by an expert opinion from Professor Dr. Robert Eigenberger, Vienna, May 1971.