Federico del Campo - Antique Oil canvas Painting / Signed / "Venecia" Manner of

Federico del Campo was the finest painter of Venetian views in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Born in Lima, Peru in 1837, Del Campo was an assistant in Leonardo Barbieri’s Academy in Lima and the owner of a number of shops selling perfumes and toys. At the age of thirty, a patron, Sen. Goyneche paid for him to travel to Europe.

In Madrid, Del Campo studied with Lorenzo Valles (1830-1910), an artist who himself worked in Italy, dying in Rome in 1910. Del Campo exhibited a “View of Venice” in 1881 in Madrid and, since he had painted in Assisi several years before, it is clear that he had travelled extensively through Italy by this time. The main body of Del Campo’s work, like that of his rival Rubens Santoro (1859-1942), who also painted in Capri and Naples, consists of Venetian views, highly detailed paintings supplied as luxurious mementoes to prosperous European and American visitors. This market extended to Capri and Naples, in addition to Venice, Florence and Rome, essential stops on the late nineteenth century ‘Grand Tour’.

Throughout the 1880’s Del Campo painted in Capri and Venice, following the market driven by European and American visitors. In 1887 he ventured as far south as Sicily, in addition to visiting Naples, Capri and Venice. Whether it be his extensive views of the Grand Canal or an intimate view of a side canal in Venice, a street scene in Naples or a beach scene in Capri, Del Campo would bring a high degree of technical mastery to the scene. Over and above his competitors, Del Campo was a particularly fine figure painter, able to bring a great sense of life to his exquisitely detailed views.

His works can be found in museums in: Karlsruhe and Lima.