Giuseppe Zais was an Italian landscape painter active during the 18th century, known for his pastoral scenes and decorative frescoes. Born in the mountain town of Forno di Canale near Belluno, Zais moved to Venice, where he developed a career that spanned nearly five decades.

He was influenced early on by the works of Marco Ricci and Francesco Zuccarelli, adopting their approach to vedute and pastoral compositions. Though he arrived in Venice after the deaths of Bartolomeo Pedon and Matteo Stom, their atmospheric landscapes also informed his visual vocabulary.

Zais was registered with the Venetian Fraglia of Painters from 1748 to 1768 and was elected to the Accademia Veneziana in 1774. Among his patrons were Joseph Smith, the British consul in Venice and a noted collector, and the Pisani family, for whom he executed frescoes at Villa Pisani in Strà, one of his most celebrated decorative commissions.

His works are held in several major collections, including:

Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice

Museum of 18th Century Venice

Villa Nazionale Pisani, Strà

National Gallery, London

Albertina, Vienna

Civic museums in Padua and Vicenza

Despite his institutional recognition, Zais died in poverty in Treviso in 1784. His legacy remains tied to the Venetian tradition of landscape painting, blending decorative elegance with bucolic serenity.

Guiseppe Zais, born in 1709 in Forno di Canale, was a landscape painter of the High Baroque, who worked mainly in Venice. In his realistic depictions of landscapes, he was influenced by Marco Ricci and later Francesco Tuccarelli, who also furthered his development.

He gained fame above all by frescoes, which he carried out at the Villa Pisani in Stra. Although he was a member of the Academy of Painters in Venice from 1774, he died penniless in Treviso.

In addition to Veduten Zai also dedicated the execution of biblical themes. The oil painting shown here The Holy Family with donkeys in the mountains is kept dark and the image background can only be guessed distorted.