Pier Francesco Mola, called Il Ticinese (9 February 1612 – 13 May 1666) was an Italian painter of the High

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 ...

, mainly active around

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 ...

Biography

Mola was born at

Coldrerio Coldrerio is a municipality in the district of Mendrisio in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. History Coldrerio is first mentioned in 852 as ''Caledrano''. In 1170 it was mentioned as ''Calderario'', in 1185 as ''Caldirera'' and in 1187 as ...

(now in

Ticino Ticino (), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino,, informally ''Canton Ticino'' ; lmo, Canton Tesin ; german: Kanton Tessin ; french: Canton du Tessin ; rm, Chantun dal Tessin . ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

).''Ecstasy in the Wilderness: Pier Francesco Mola's "The Vision of Saint Bruno" '', Dawson W. Carr, ''The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal'', Vol. 19 (1991), 99. At the age of four, he moved to

with his father Giovanni Battista Mola, a

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

. With the exception of the years 1633–40 and 1641–47, during which he resided in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

and

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 ...

, respectively, he lived for the rest of his life in Rome. His early training was with the late mannerist painter

Cavalier d'Arpino Giuseppe Cesari (14 February 1568 – 3 July 1640) was an Italian Mannerist painter, also named Il Giuseppino and called ''Cavaliere d'Arpino'', because he was created ''Cavaliere di Cristo'' by his patron Pope Clement VIII. He was much patronize ...

, and he worked under the classicizing

Francesco Albani Francesco Albani or Albano (17 March or 17 August 1578 – 4 October 1660) was an Italian Baroque painter who was active in Bologna (1591–1600), Rome (1600–1609), Bologna (1609), Viterbo (1609–1610), Bologna (1610), Rome (1610–1617), ...

. His masterpiece as a fresco painter is widely considered to be the fresco in the gallery of

Alexander VII Pope Alexander VII ( it, Alessandro VII; 13 February 159922 May 1667), born Fabio Chigi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 April 1655 to his death in May 1667. He began his career as a vice- papal legate, an ...

in the Quirinal Palace Gallery, entitled ''Joseph making himself known to his Brethren'' (1657). However, Mola is considered to have been better as a painter of small pictures, especially landscapes.Wittkower, Rudolph. ''Art and Architecture in Italy, 1600–1750''. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999. II.136. He made six versions of The Flight into Egypt, the earliest and best of which is the first one, '' The Rest on the Flight into Egypt''. He was elected ''Principe'' of 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 ...

, the Roman artists' professional association, in 1662, but his last years were neither profitable nor prolific. Among his pupils were

Jean-Baptiste Forest Jean-Baptiste Forest (1636 in Paris – 1712 in Paris) was a French landscape painter. Biography He was instructed in the first rudiments of art by his father, Pierre Forest, an artist little known. He went afterwards to Italy, and at Rome becam ...

, Antonio Gherardi, and

Giuseppe Bonati Giuseppe Bonati (1635 – 12 March 1681) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active in Rome and Ferrara. He is also known as ''Giovannino del Pio'' or ''Giovanni Bonatti''. He initially trained as a pupil of Francesco Costanzo Cattane ...

. With his looser style and handling, more naturalistic palette, and interest in exploring landscape elements, Mola differs from the prevailing, highly-theoretical classicism of such leading 17th-century Roman painters as

Andrea Sacchi Andrea Sacchi (30 November 159921 June 1661) was an Italian painter of High Baroque Classicism, active in Rome. A generation of artists who shared his style of art include the painters Nicolas Poussin and Giovanni Battista Passeri, the sculptors ...

Notes

Sources

* * Pier Francesco Mola 1612 - 1666, Electa 1989, Lugano, Museo Cantonale d'Arte {{DEFAULTSORT:Mola, Pier Francesco 1612 births 1666 deaths People from Ticino 17th-century Italian painters Italian male painters Italian Baroque painters