Provenance

With the Covent Garden Gallery, London (Master Drawings, 1977, no. 70, fig. 63).

Adolphe Stein, by 1978; his [anonymous] sale, Christie’s, London, 4 July 2000, lot 58 (when purchased by the present owner).

Exhibited

Pfäffikon, Seedamm-Kulturzentrum,18 June – 27 August 1978, and Geneva, Musée d’art et d’histoire, 13 September – 5 November 1978, Art Venitien en Suisse et au Liechtenstein, p. 204, no. 187, illustrated (catalogue by M. Natale).

Migliara worked as a painter and teacher in Milan for the majority of his career. His earliest work was as a scene painter in partnership with Gaspare Galiari (1761-1823) and together they were involved in theatrical productions at the Teatro Carcano in 1804 and La Scala 1805-9. Ill health forced him to abandon such large scale projects and from 1810 he focused his skills on smaller works, oils and watercolours on a variety of supports, including silk, ivory and glass.

Migliara’s work stands apart from the mainstream of Milanese painting in this period, which was dominated by the Neoclassical movement in the form of Andrea Appiani and Luigi Sabatelli. Rather than take up the themes of Greek and Roman mythology his work is aligned more closely to the Romantic movement, focusing on historical subjects primarily of the Medieval period. This relates it to the Troubadour style in France of his contemporaries Pierre Révoil (1776-1842) and Fleury Richard (1777-1852). He specialised in contemplative views of intimate spaces such as church interiors and cloisters. His pictures are characterised by precise handling, much like that of a miniature painter.

Migliara was ultimately very successful and his work brought him many commissions from Milan’s aristocracy. In 1822 he was appointed Professor of Perspective at the Accademia di Belle Arti, Milan and in 1833 he was nominated painter to the court of Charles-Albert, King of Sardinia (reigned 1831-49). He was also successful as a teacher, and several of his pupils, including his daughter Teodolinda Migliara (1816-66) as well as Frederico Moja (1802-85), Pompeo Calvi (1806-84), Luigi Bisi (1814-86) and Angelo Inganni (1806-80) copied his style and subject matter.