Giovanni Antonio Fumiani (1645–1710) 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.

Biography

Born 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 ...

in 1645, he trained in Bologna under

Domenico degli Ambrogi Domenico Ambrogi (c. 1600-after 1678) was an Italian painter from Bologna of the 17th century, also called ''Menichino'' or ''Menghino del Brizio'', after a master. Mainly known as a decorator of quadratura. He is also known as Domenico degli Amb ...

, a specialist in

quadratura Illusionistic ceiling painting, which includes the techniques of perspective ''di sotto in sù'' and ''quadratura'', is the tradition in Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo art in which ''trompe-l'œil'', perspective tools such as foreshortening, an ...

, but by 1668 he was back in Venice, where he painted a ''Virgin and Saints'' in

San Benedetto San Benedetto may refer to: * Saint Benedict (c. 480-543/547), Italian saint * Saint Benedict (disambiguation), a number of other Italian saints called San Benedetto (Saint Benedict) Places of Italy * San Benedetto Belbo, a municipality in the Pro ...

. He was influenced by Ludovico Carracci and

Alessandro Tiarini Alessandro Tiarini (20 March 1577 – 8 February 1668) was an Italian Baroque painter of the Bolognese School. Biography Alessandro Tiarini was born in Bologna. His mother died when he was a child, and he was raised by an aunt. Early on his fa ...

, and soon also became interested in the work of

Paolo Veronese Paolo Caliari (152819 April 1588), known as Paolo Veronese ( , also , ), was an Italian Renaissance painter based in Venice, known for extremely large history paintings of religion and mythology, such as ''The Wedding at Cana'' (1563) and ''The ...

, so that he started to use elaborate architectural settings and brighter colours. He painted a ''Virgin Appearing to Pius V'' (1674; Vicenza, S Lorenzo), whose monumentality foreshadows Tiepolo, whereas mosaics in San Marco, created in 1677 from Fumiani’s cartoons, are closer to the idiosyncratic art of

Pietro della Vecchia Pietro della Vecchia, Pietro della Vècchia or Pietro Vècchia, formerly incorrectly called Pietro MuttoniBernard Aikema. "Vecchia, Pietro della."Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 5 March 2018 (Vicenza, 1603 &nda ...

. He contributed to the decoration of San Rocco (1675, 1676, 1678), where he painted a large canvas of the ''Charity of St Roch'' on the ceiling of the nave, In his smaller paintings, however, such as the

modelli A modello (plural modelli), from Italian, is a preparatory study or model, usually at a smaller scale, for a work of art or architecture, especially one produced for the approval of the commissioning patron. The term gained currency in art circl ...

(Florence, Uffizi) painted for the patron Ferdinand de Medici, Grand Prince of Tuscany, for whom he worked for a long time, with Niccolò Cassana acting as intermediary, Fumiani revealed a lively decorative sense and a taste for animated, sensual subjects that produced works of great quality.

Works

Between 1684 and 1704, Fumiani decorated the ceiling of

San Pantalon The Chiesa di San Pantaleone Martire, known as San Pantalon in the Venetian dialect, is a church in the Dorsoduro ''sestiere'' of Venice, Italy. It is located on the Campo San Pantalon (square), and is dedicated to Saint Pantaleon. The 17th-centu ...

(Chiesa di San Pantaleone Martire) with a painting on

canvas Canvas is an extremely durable plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, shelters, as a support for oil painting and for other items for which sturdiness is required, as well as in such fashion objects as handbags ...

, which is the second largest in the world after the one in Maddaloni's school "Convitto Nazionale Giordano Bruno". The painting depicts ''The Martyrdom and Apotheosis of

'' across 44 canvases that cover the large ceiling (25x50 m). This was an ambitious undertaking, both in its scale and in the unity of the magniloquent images, that parallels

Andrea Pozzo Andrea Pozzo (; Latinized version: ''Andreas Puteus''; 30 November 1642 – 31 August 1709) was an Italian Jesuit brother, Baroque painter, architect, decorator, stage designer, and art theoretician. Pozzo was best known for his grandiose fresc ...

’s decoration at the church of Sant'Ignazio in Rome. Fumiani putatively died from a fall from a San Pantalon ceiling scaffold, although some sources date his death to six years after he stopped work on the San Pantalon ceiling. One of his last works was the 1705 large lunette depicting ''

Otto III Otto III (June/July 980 – 23 January 1002) was Holy Roman Emperor from 996 until his death in 1002. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto III was the only son of the Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu. Otto III was crowned as King of ...

(or Frederick III) Visiting the Convent of San Zaccaria in the Company of the Doge'' (Venice, San Zaccaria). Interior of San Pantaleone (Venice) - The Martyrdom and Apotheosis of St Pantalon - Gian Antonio Fumiani.jpg, Ceiling at

References

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Sources

San Pantalon restoration
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fumiani, Giovanni Antonio 1645 births 1710 deaths 17th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 18th-century Italian painters Painters from Venice Italian Baroque painters 18th-century Italian male artists