Vincenzo Chilone

Economic needs and family misfortunes led him to become an assistant to Alessandro Mauro, a theater architect, and set designer.

After Mauro's death, he tried briefly to work on his own but eventually accepted a position in Udine, collaborating with Antonio Mauro, to do the frescoes at a theater being decorated by the painter Giambattista Canal, whose eyesight was failing.

He returned to Venice in 1815, virtually forgotten, and was forced to work for other painters.

Most of his canvases were sold cheaply to middlemen, some of whom made a huge profit by passing them off as works by Canaletto.

That same year, he received a major commission from the expatriate Venetian musician, Domenico Dragonetti, who was also an art collector and dealer.