![Bartolomeo Biscaino Samson und Delilah](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Bartolomeo_Biscaino_Samson_und_Delilah.jpg)
Bartolomeo Biscaino (1632–1657) was an Italian painter 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 ...
period, active in his native
Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...
.
Life
![Bartolomeo Biscaino, Adoration des Mages](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Bartolomeo_Biscaino%2C_Adoration_des_Mages.jpg)
He was the son, and pupil, of
Giovanni Andrea Biscaino. He afterwards became a pupil of
Valerio Castello
Valerio Castello (1624October 1659) born in Genoa, was an Italian painter of the Baroque period and one of the pre-eminent Ligurian painters of his time. His art drew inspiration from a wide range of sources. He painted on canvas and fresco.Ma ...
. His career was cut short by the
plague
Plague or The Plague may refer to:
Agriculture, fauna, and medicine
*Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis''
* An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural)
* A pandemic caused by such a disease
* A swarm of pe ...
which visited
Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...
, and to which his father and himself fell victims. The Dresden gallery once held three paintings, representing ''Woman taken in adultery'', ''Adoration by Magi'', and ''Circumcision of Christ''.
Around 1650 Biscaino entered the workshop of
Valerio Castello
Valerio Castello (1624October 1659) born in Genoa, was an Italian painter of the Baroque period and one of the pre-eminent Ligurian painters of his time. His art drew inspiration from a wide range of sources. He painted on canvas and fresco.Ma ...
, and from roughly that year his first known work, which still finds him a clumsy and immature artist, was the canvas representing ''St Ferrando in the act of imploring the Virgin''. Almost at the same time Biscaino worked on the canvases representing the ''Alms of St Louis King of France'' and ''Death of Cleopatra,'' both preserved in the Palazzo Bianco gallery in Genoa. In these canvases, the colors were not very vibrant, but the painter achieved a greater compositional balance, even if he did not get to possess a personal style, since he did not yet show the later influence of
Rubens and
Pellegro Piola. On the other hand, the existing canvas in the Pinacoteca Civica of Savona, representing ''Triumph of David'' and in ''Moses Saved from the Waters'', he has more maturity.
Bisciano later follows
Valerio Castello
Valerio Castello (1624October 1659) born in Genoa, was an Italian painter of the Baroque period and one of the pre-eminent Ligurian painters of his time. His art drew inspiration from a wide range of sources. He painted on canvas and fresco.Ma ...
and in addition to the characteristic colors, which became smoky and ''sfatti'' he adopted the type of procacciniano-corrugated figure. This is also visible in his ''Adoration of the Magi'', preserved in the National Gallery of Palazzo Spinola in
Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...
. The last works of Bisciano, before his young death from plague, were the three paintings preserved in the Dresden Gallery and depicting ''Christ and the Adulteress'', ''Presentation at the Temple'' and ''Adoration of the Magi''. A sketch of the central part of the latter painting is preserved in M. Labò collection in Genoa and another in the National Gallery of
Palazzo Spinola. In these works the painter could almost achieve a personal style.
Works
He etched several plates, in a style, recalling
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (baptized 23 March 16095 May 1664) was an Italian Baroque painter, printmaker and draftsman, of the Genoese school. He is best known now for his etchings, and as the inventor of the printmaking technique of monoty ...
, including:
*''Moses in bulrushes''
*''Susannah and the Elders''
*''Nativity with Angels''
*''The Circumcision''
*''The Magi’s offering''
*''Herodias with head of St. John''
*''Virgin and infant with Angels''
*''Virgin suckling infant, with St Joseph ''
*''Virgin suckling infant with St Joseph. St. John with his lamb''
*''Virgin adoring infant''
*''Virgin with infant Jesus on her knee, St. John kissing his foot and St Joseph behind''
*''Virgin with infant Jesus standing on her knee, stretching out His arm to St Joseph; half-length The Holy Family, with St John holding a cross''
*''Repose in Egypt with Angels''
*''Infant Jesus reposing on the globe''
*''St. Joseph with the Infant''
*''St. Christopher giving hand to Infant Jesus''
*''St. Christopher with Infant Jesus''
*''Mary Magdalene in desert (1656).
References
*
*Soprani and Ratti (editor), ''Vite'', 2nd Edition, Genoa, 1768. Pages 339-350.
*Camillo Manzitti, "Per Bartolomeo Biscaino", in "Paragone", n. 253, Marzo 1971
*Valerio Castello 1624-1659 Genio Moderno, catalogo della mostra a cura di Marzia Cataldi Gallo, Luca Leoncini, Camillo Manzitti, Daniele Sanguineti, Ginevra-Milano, 2008.
*
External links
''Genoa : drawings and prints, 1530-1800'' fully digitized text from The Metropolitan Museum of Art libraries (see index)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Biscaino, Bartolomeo
1632 births
1657 deaths
17th-century Italian painters
Italian male painters
Painters from Genoa
Italian engravers
Italian Baroque painters
17th-century deaths from plague (disease)