![Antonio Gherardi](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Antonio_Gherardi.jpg)
Antonio Gherardi (''Il Reatino'') (20 September 1638 – 10 May 1702) was an Italian
painter, architect, and sculptor (
stucco
Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...
ist) of the
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
style, active mainly in and near
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
and his native city of
Rieti.
Life
Antonio was born in Rieti to Stefano and Giulia Poggi Tatoti, but when he moved to Rome (c. 1656) he changed his name. His father, a middle-class craftsman, died when Antonio was only eight years old. In 1656, Monsignor Bulgarino Bulgarini, Governor of Rieti, became his patron. Two years later Bulgarini sponsored his travel to Rome, and introduced him to his future mentors,
Pier Francesco Mola
Pier Francesco Mola, called Il Ticinese (9 February 1612 – 13 May 1666) was an Italian painter of the High Baroque, mainly active around Rome.
Biography
Mola was born at Coldrerio (now in Ticino, Switzerland).''Ecstasy in the Wilderness: Pier ...
and
Pietro da Cortona
Pietro da Cortona (; 1 November 1596 or 159716 May 1669) was an Italian Baroque painter and architect. Along with his contemporaries and rivals Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini, he was one of the key figures in the emergence of Roman ...
. In the large workshops organized by the latter, he developed skills in both painting and stucco decoration. The influence of Cortona on Gherardi was so significant that many of his first paintings were attributed to the old master.
[Bollini, Martina. "This Day in History: September 20", Italian Art Society]
/ref>
Between 1667 and 1669 Gherardi travelled extensively in northern Italy. Upon his return to Rome, he painted the vulted ceiling in Santa Maria in Trivio
Santa Maria in Trivio is a church in Rome. It is dedicated to Mary, mother of Jesus, and is located on Piazza dei Crociferi in rione Trevi. It is near the Fountain of Trevi.
In Mariano Vasi's 19th-century guidebook, the church is referred to ...
. In 1674, he joined the Accademia di San Luca
The Accademia di San Luca (the "Academy of Saint Luke") is an Italian academy of artists in Rome. The establishment of the Accademia de i Pittori e Scultori di Roma was approved by papal brief in 1577, and in 1593 Federico Zuccari became its fir ...
.[ That same year he began work on scenes from the life of St.Francesco Solano for the Astalli Chapel at ]Santa Maria in Ara Coeli
The Basilica of St. Mary of the Altar of Heaven ( la, Basilica Sanctae Mariae de Ara coeli in Capitolio, it, Basilica di Santa Maria in Ara coeli al Campidoglio) is a titular basilica in Rome, located on the highest summit of the Campidoglio. ...
.
Gherardi drew freely on forms and ideas of Bernini, Borromini, and Cortona. The best examples of his work can be seen in the Santa Cecilia Chapel, San Carlo ai Catinari
San Carlo ai Catinari, also called Santi Biagio e Carlo ai Catinari ("Saints Blaise and Charles at the Bowl-Makers") is an early-Baroque style church in Rome, Italy. It is located on Piazza Benedetto Cairoli, 117 just off the corner of Via Arenul ...
, and the Avila Chapel, Santa Maria in Trastevere
The Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere ( it, Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere); en, Our Lady in Trastevere) is a titular minor basilica in the Trastevere district of Rome, and one of the oldest churches of Rome. The basic floor plan and ...
(c.1679), two of the most architecturally inventive chapels of the late-17th century in Rome.
In 1698 he was appointed architect and painter of the chapel of Santa Teresa in Santa Maria in Traspontina
The Church of Santa Maria del Carmelo in Traspontina (Saint Mary of Carmel Across the Bridge) is a Roman Catholic titular church in Rome, run by the Carmelites. The bridge referred to is the Ponte Sant'Angelo. The church is on the Via della Conci ...
, which still preserves a painting of the ''Ecstasy of Santa Teresa''.["Santa Maria del Carmelo in Traspontina", Churches of Rome]
/ref>
Work
Among his works are
*The decoration of the vault of Santa Maria in Trivio
Santa Maria in Trivio is a church in Rome. It is dedicated to Mary, mother of Jesus, and is located on Piazza dei Crociferi in rione Trevi. It is near the Fountain of Trevi.
In Mariano Vasi's 19th-century guidebook, the church is referred to ...
, ''Scenes from the Life of the Virgin'', (1668–1670)
*''Birth of the Virgin'' in the Duomo of Gubbio
Gubbio () is an Italian town and ''comune'' in the far northeastern part of the Italian province of Perugia (Umbria). It is located on the lowest slope of Mt. Ingino, a small mountain of the Apennines.
History
The city's origins are very ancient. ...
*''Death of Blessed Francesco'' (1675) and architecture, Chapel of the Blessed Francesco Solano in Santa Maria in Aracoeli
The Basilica of St. Mary of the Altar of Heaven ( la, Basilica Sanctae Mariae de Ara coeli in Capitolio, it, Basilica di Santa Maria in Ara coeli al Campidoglio) is a titular basilica in Rome, located on the highest summit of the Campidoglio. ...
, Rome).
*''Education of the Virgin'' (c. 1675, 2nd chapel on left of Duomo of Poggio Mirteto
Poggio Mirteto is a ''comune'' (municipality) and former Catholic bishopric in Sabina in the Central Italian region Lazio (Latium). Administratively Poggio Mirteto is in the province of Rieti (formerly part of the province of Perugia) and geogra ...
).
*''Holy family with young John the Baptist'', (c. 1675, Duomo of Monterotondo
Monterotondo is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Rome, central Italy.
History
According to some historians, Monterotondo is the heir of the ancient Sabine town of Eretum, although the modern settlement appeared in the 10th-11th ce ...
).
*''Scenes from the Life of Esther'', (1673–1674, Palazzo Naro, Rome)["Antonio Gherardi ", ''Visit Rieti'', City of Rieti]
/ref>
*''Crucifixion'', (1674–1686, Santi Claudio e Andrea dei Borgognoni, Rome, lost).
*''Vision of S. Filippo Neri'' & ''S. Camillo de Lellis heals dying Crescenzi family member'', (1677, sacristy, Santa Maria in Trivio).
*Stucco for main altar (1677, Santa Maria in Trivio
Santa Maria in Trivio is a church in Rome. It is dedicated to Mary, mother of Jesus, and is located on Piazza dei Crociferi in rione Trevi. It is near the Fountain of Trevi.
In Mariano Vasi's 19th-century guidebook, the church is referred to ...
).
*''The miracle of Holy Shroud'' & ''Christ lying on Shroud with Donors from House of Savoy and Sts. Massimo & Maurizio, Blessed Amedeo, Margherita & Ludovica'', (1680–1682, Altarpiece, Santissimo Sudario dei Piemontesi; payment 140 scudi).
*''Saint Jerome penitent in desert'', (1680, painted to substitute for painting by Durante Alberti
Durante Alberti (c. 1556 – 1623) was an Italian painter of the late-Renaissance period.
He was born in Borgo San Sepolcro. He was active mainly in his native town and Rome, where he arrived during the papacy of Gregory XIII. He was also called ...
) and the architecture of the Avila chapel in Santa Maria in Trastevere
The Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere ( it, Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere); en, Our Lady in Trastevere) is a titular minor basilica in the Trastevere district of Rome, and one of the oldest churches of Rome. The basic floor plan and ...
*''Santa Cecilia'' (1692) and the architecture of the Santa Cecilia Chapel (1695–1700) in San Carlo ai Catinari
San Carlo ai Catinari, also called Santi Biagio e Carlo ai Catinari ("Saints Blaise and Charles at the Bowl-Makers") is an early-Baroque style church in Rome, Italy. It is located on Piazza Benedetto Cairoli, 117 just off the corner of Via Arenul ...
*''Ecstasy of Saint Theresa'' (1698, Santa Maria in Traspontina
The Church of Santa Maria del Carmelo in Traspontina (Saint Mary of Carmel Across the Bridge) is a Roman Catholic titular church in Rome, run by the Carmelites. The bridge referred to is the Ponte Sant'Angelo. The church is on the Via della Conci ...
, Rome).
*''Immaculate Conception'' for church of Sant'Antonio al Monte, Rieti.[
*Ephemeral funerary decorations for Alfonso di Portugal in ]Sant'Antonio dei Portoghesi
The church of Saint Anthony in Campo Marzio, known as Saint Anthony of the Portuguese ( it, Sant'Antonio dei Portoghesi, pt, Santo António dos Portugueses), is a Baroque Roman Catholic titular church in Rome, dedicated to Saint Anthony of Lisbo ...
, also others to celebrate the extirpation of Calvinism in France.
References
External links
Recent exhibition in Rieti on Antonio Gherardi.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gherardi, Antonio
1638 births
1702 deaths
17th-century Italian sculptors
Italian male sculptors
Italian Baroque painters
17th-century Italian painters
Italian male painters
18th-century Italian painters
People from Rieti
Architects of Roman Catholic churches
Catholic painters
Catholic sculptors
Catholic decorative artists
18th-century Italian male artists