Domenico Bettini (1644–1705) 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, mainly depicting still-life subjects.

Biography

He was born in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

on 21 July 1644; at twelve he entered the workshop of the Florentine painter

Jacopo Vignali Jacopo Vignali (September 5, 1592 – August 3, 1664) was an Italian painter of the early Baroque period. Biography Vignali was born in Pratovecchio, near Arezzo, and initially trained under Matteo Rosselli. He painted the ceiling fresco of the ' ...

, where he remained for about eight years: from this period of his formation are some lunettes frescoed in the first cloister of Santa Maria del Carmine, two of which (''Elijah Fed by an Angel'' and ''Elijah Builds a Temple on the Site of the Sacrifice of Abraham'') are signed and dated 166 ... (1660?); four others of the same cloister (''Elijah Raises the Child of Sidon's Widow'', ''Elijah Covers Elisha with his Cloak'', ''Elijah Heals the Water of a Spring'', the ''Children Saved by the Bears'') were ascribed to him by Richa. Bettini's signed and dated 1661 ''Guardian Angel'' was found in the church of Saints Simone and Giuda in Corniola (Empoli). In this latter canvas, so clearly youthful in the uncertainties and imbalances of the composition, one easily recognizes the teachings of Vignali, and echoes of the Florentine culture of the time. Bettini, soon after his marriage at the age of twenty, left for

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 ...

, where he apprenticed with

Mario Nuzzi Mario Nuzzi, who went by the pseudonym, Mario de' Fiori (19 January 1603, in Rome – 14 November 1673, in Rome) was an Italian painter in the Baroque style. His paintings are all based around floral arrangements; hence the name Fiori (flowers). ...

(Mario dei Fiori) for a few years; then, he moved to northern Italy to study and he worked for the duke of

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

. Biographers of the early eighteenth century, such as ( Baldinucci and Sagrestani) list him as working for the duke of

, the duke of

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...

(from 1670 onwards for eighteen years), the marquis Muzio Spada of Faenza from 1685 to 1701, and finally Bolognese lords. In 1703 the painter moved from

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

, where he died on the 4th of November 1705. Other details of his biography and work are sparse; in part, because still life was considered minor painting, sold mostly to private households. Many inventories list such works merely as a "still-life'', leaving the precise subject undefined, and thus hindering a precise delineation of a reliable catalogue of Bettini works. One of his pupils was Felice Rubbiani of Modena.Campori,Giuseppe (1855)
''Gli artisti italiani e stranieri negli stati estensi catalogo storico''.
Modena, pp. 72–73.

References

* 1644 births 1705 deaths 17th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 18th-century Italian painters Painters from Florence Italian Baroque painters Italian still life painters 18th-century Italian male artists {{Italy-painter-17thC-stub