Federico Del Campo

Peruvian 1837 - 1923

Federico Del Campo was one of the finest painters of Venetian views in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Born in Lima, Peru, Del Campo studied in Madrid 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 (b.1859), who also painted in Capri and Naples, consists of Veneitan views. These are highly detailed paintings supplied as luxurious mementoes to prosperous European and American visitors.

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.