Vincenzo Chilone

Vincenzo Chilone (10 July 1758, Venice - 12 January 1839, Venice) was an Italian painter who specialized in vedute, after the style of Canaletto.

He was born in the neighborhood of the parish of San Samuele, Venice. In writing a biography of his friend, the professor of architecture in the Venetian Academy of Fine Arts, Francesco Lazzari, obtained an autobiographical recount from the painter, where he describes that his parents as poor: his father, Andrea, was originally from Grece, and mother local, from Mirano. By age ten, Chilone was first apprenticed to a weaver of silk stockings, but soon after to a wood carver, and came to live with Sante Boselo and his elder brother, both painters, and Chilone became a pupil of the Modenese perspective painter Francesco Battaglioli. From there he came in the studio of Alessandro Mauro, where he aided in some large historical canvases.

Economic needs and family misfortunes led him to become an assistant to Mauro, a theater architect and set designer. All of his work was done without credit. After Mauro's death, he tried briefly to work on his own but eventually accepted a position in Udine, collaborating with another Mauro, Antonio, to do the frescoes at a theater being decorated by the painter Giambattista Canal, whose eyesight was failing. He remained in Udine for some time and helped decorate the Palazzo Marcotti.

In June 25, 1781 married Francesca Cavisago and ultimately had 17 children. Seeking more income and independent success, he traveled in 1795 to Udine with the painter Mauro Antonio. But by 1797, the turmoil of the Napoleonic wars had slackened commissions.

He returned to Venice in 1815, virtually forgotten, and was forced to work for other painters. Most of his canvases were sold cheaply to middle-men, some of whom made a huge profit by passing them off as works by Canaletto. Perhaps in response to this, he began to display more stylistic autonomy. Soon, he enjoyed the patronage of the nobility. In 1824, he was elected a member of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia. That same year, he received a major commission from the expatriate Venetian musician, Domenico Dragonetti, who was also an art collector and dealer.

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