Giovanni Grubacs was born in Venice in 1830. Giovanni, whose family originated from Istria, was the son of Carlo, a vedutista painter active in the first half of the nineteenth century. Giovanni studied at the Academy in Venice; at the beginning of his career he orientated himself on eighteenth century cityscapes and later turned towards more contemporary depictions. During this period a new sub-genre developed in Venice, the nocturnal view. One of the sub-genre’s initial interpreters was Ippolito Caffi, of whom Grubacs was amongst his first admirers. Grubacs started to add to his production of traditional views these new kinds of representations, which were to remain popular in Venice until the end of the century. Gio...