Frederico del Campo was one of the finest painters of Venetian views in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Born in born in Lima, Peru, del Campo was an assistant in Leonardo Barbieri’s Academy in Lima and the owner of a number of shops selling perfumes and toys. At the age of 30 a patron, Senior Goyneche, paid for del Campo to travel to Europe.

In Madrid, del Campo studied with Lorenzo Valles, an artist who himself worked in Italy, dying in Rome in 1910. Del Campo exhibited ‘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. One of del Campo’s paintings ‘Marina Grande von Capri’ was featured in the Olgemalde series of books on Venetian artists.

The main body of del Campo’s work, like that of his rival Rubens Santoro, who also painted in Capri and Naples, consists of Venetian views, highly detailed paintings supplied as luxurious mementoes to prosperous European and American visitors. This market extended to Capri and Naples, in addition to Venice, Florence and Rome, all essential stops on the late nineteenth century ‘Grand Tour’, and it was throughout the 1880s that del Campo painted in Capri and Venice. In 1887 he ventured as far south as Sicily. Early in his career del Campo painted many South American scenes, one of which was titled ‘Rio de san Barnaba’.

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, able to bring a great sense of life to his exquisitely detailed views.

His works can be found in museums in Karlsruhe and Lima