Bernardo de' Dominici or Bernardo De Dominici (13 December 1683 – c. 1759) was an Italian art historian and painter of the late-

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 mainly in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. As a painter he was known for his landscapes, marine

vedute A ''veduta'' (Italian for "view"; plural ''vedute'') is a highly detailed, usually large-scale painting or, more often, print of a cityscape or some other vista. The painters of ''vedute'' are referred to as ''vedutisti''. Origins This genre ...

and genre scenes in a style characteristic of the

Bamboccianti The ''Bamboccianti'' were genre painters active in Rome from about 1625 until the end of the seventeenth century. Most were Dutch and Flemish artists who brought existing traditions of depicting peasant subjects from sixteenth-century Netherland ...

. He is now mainly known for his art historical writings and in particular the ''Vite dei Pittori, Scultori, ed Architetti Napolitani'', a three volume collection of brief biographies of Neapolitan artists.F Ferdinando Bologna, ''Bernardo de Dominici''
In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 33 (1987)

Life

Bernardo de' Dominici was born in Naples as the son of the painter, musician and collector Raimondo de' Dominici and Camilla Tartaglione. He was the brother of Giampaolo, a scholar, musician and theater maker and nephew of Suor Maria, a Maltese artist. His father was a Maltese who had been a pupil of

Mattia Preti Mattia Preti (24 February 1613 – 3 January 1699) was an Italian Baroque artist who worked in Italy and Malta. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Saint John. Life Born in the small town of Taverna in Calabria, Preti was called ''Il Cava ...

in Malta and had moved around his twentieth year to Naples. In 1698 when he was 14 years old Bernardo`s father took him to Malta to meet Preti. He became a pupil of Preti for about seven months until his training was cut short by Preti's death in January 1699. After his return to Naples in 1701, he dedicated himself to painting as a pupil of

Francesco Solimena Francesco Solimena (4 October 1657 – 3 April 1747) was a prolific Italian painter of the Baroque era, one of an established family of painters and draughtsmen. Biography Francesco Solimena was born in Canale di Serino in the province of ...

who trained him in landscape painting but was also a history painter influenced by Preti. He also studied under the painter

Franz Joachim Beich Franz Joachim Beich (1666–1748) was a Bavarian painter. Life Franz Joachim Beich was born at Ravensburg (in today's Baden-Württemberg), on October 15, 1666.

, a landscape painter from

Ravensburg Ravensburg ( Swabian: ''Raveschburg'') is a city in Upper Swabia in Southern Germany, capital of the district of Ravensburg, Baden-Württemberg. Ravensburg was first mentioned in 1088. In the Middle Ages, it was an Imperial Free City and an impo ...

(in today's

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

) who was then working in Naples. He also studied with the Dutch painter Paul Ganses, who was a specialist in moonlit seascapes. Bernardo de' Dominici became a landscape painter who also practised the genre of the "bambocciata", a style of genre painting that depicts the everyday life of the lower classes. He collaborated on such bambocciata with the painter

Domenico Brandi Domenico Brandi (1683–1736) was an Italian painter, active in his native Naples, where he painted still lifes of birds and animals, as well as pastoral landscapes (vedute) and a bambocciata. He was the son of the painter Gaetano Brandi, and Do ...

. Nothing of his output in these areas has been found which is likely explained by the fact that this was a genre practised by so many artists and was therefore not distinctive. Dominici served for many years the duke of Laurenzana, Niccolò Gaetani dell'Aquila d'Aragona, and was the court painter of his wife

Aurora Sanseverino Aurora Sanseverino (28 April 1669 – 2 July 1726) was an Italian noblewoman, salon-holder, patron and poet. One of the most celebrated women in the highest rank of the Neapolitan aristocracy, she was known for her great cultural activity as a patr ...

. He also exchanged sonnets with the poet Antonio Roviglione. He was in contact with the intellectual elite of Naples.

Art historian of Naples

In 1727, Dominici published a biography of

Luca Giordano Luca Giordano (18 October 1634 – 3 January 1705) was an Italian late-Baroque painter and printmaker in etching. Fluent and decorative, he worked successfully in Naples and Rome, Florence, and Venice, before spending a decade in Spain. Ear ...

. Dominici, however, is best remembered as the Neapolitan

Vasari Giorgio Vasari (, also , ; 30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance Master, who worked as a painter, architect, engineer, writer, and historian, who is best known for his work ''The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculpt ...

, after publishing in 1742 an ample, yet flawed, three volume collection of brief biographies of Neapolitan artists, ''Vite dei Pittori, Scultori, ed Architetti Napolitani''.* It recounts the careers of artists from the "School of Naples," among these:

Volume I
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Volume II
/h2>

Volume III
/h2>

Volume IV
/h2>
# Fra
Mattia Preti Mattia Preti (24 February 1613 – 3 January 1699) was an Italian Baroque artist who worked in Italy and Malta. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Saint John. Life Born in the small town of Taverna in Calabria, Preti was called ''Il Cava ...
# Pietro Ceraso, Agostino Ferraro, Aniello Perrone, Michele Perrone, and Domenico di Nardo # Francesco Picchiatti called Picchetti; Gennaro Sacco and Arcangelo Guglielmelli #
Luca Giordano Luca Giordano (18 October 1634 – 3 January 1705) was an Italian late-Baroque painter and printmaker in etching. Fluent and decorative, he worked successfully in Naples and Rome, Florence, and Venice, before spending a decade in Spain. Ear ...
#
Giacomo Farelli Giacomo Farelli (1629 in Naples – 26 June 1706) was an Italian painter active in Naples. Biography He trained under Andrea Vaccaro, whose style he at first followed, but he afterwards imitated with more success that of Guido Reni and Luca Gio ...
#
Lorenzo Vaccaro Lorenzo Vaccaro (1655 – 10 August 1706) was an Italian late-Baroque sculptor. He worked in a formalized restrained style. He was born in Naples, the son of a lawyer. He apprenticed with Cosimo Fanzago and Dionisio Lazzari. He was a close frie ...
, Lodovico Vaccaro and their disciples #
Giacomo del Po Giacomo is an Italian name. It is the Italian version of the Hebrew name Jacob. People * Giacomo (name), including a list of people with the name Other uses * Giacomo (horse), a race horse, winner of the 2005 Kentucky Derby * ''Giácomo'' (film) ...
,
Teresa del Po Teresa (also Theresa, Therese; french: Thérèse) is a feminine given name. It originates in the Iberian Peninsula in late antiquity. Its derivation is uncertain, it may be derived from Greek θερίζω (''therízō'') "to harvest or re ...
#
Paolo de Matteis Paolo de Matteis (also known as ''Paolo de' Matteis''; 9 February 1662 – 26 January 1728) was an Italian painter. Biography He was born in Piano Vetrale, a hamlet of Orria, in the current Province of Salerno, and died in Naples. He trained wit ...
and his disciples # Gennaro Greco;
Gaetano Martoriello Gaetano Martoriello (c. 1680–1733) was an Italian painter of the late-Baroque period, active in his natal city of Naples. He painted mainly marine vedute and landscapes. He initially trained under Giacomo del Po, but desiring to paint landscape ...
; Michele Pagano; Giovanni Marziale; Giuseppe Tassone;
Gaetano Gaetano (anglicized ''Cajetan'') is an Italian masculine given name. It is also used as a surname. It is derived from the Latin ''Caietanus'', meaning "from ''Caieta''" (the modern Gaeta). The given name has been in use in Italy since medieval pe ...
and
Domenico Brandi Domenico Brandi (1683–1736) was an Italian painter, active in his native Naples, where he painted still lifes of birds and animals, as well as pastoral landscapes (vedute) and a bambocciata. He was the son of the painter Gaetano Brandi, and Do ...
; Carlo Moscatiello; Onofrio Naso;
Pietro Capelli Pietro Capelli or Pietro Cappelli (born circa 1700, died 1724 or 1727) was an Italian painter of the Rococo, active in his native city of Naples. He trained under Francesco Solimena. He was active in quadratura, but also painted capricci and canv ...
; and Niccolo Bonito # Andre Belvedere #
Francesco Solimena Francesco Solimena (4 October 1657 – 3 April 1747) was a prolific Italian painter of the Baroque era, one of an established family of painters and draughtsmen. Biography Francesco Solimena was born in Canale di Serino in the province of ...
, called Ciccio Solimena

References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dominici, Bernardo De 1683 births 1759 deaths 17th-century Neapolitan people 17th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 18th-century Italian painters Painters from Naples Italian Baroque painters Italian art historians 18th-century Neapolitan people 18th-century Italian male artists