Giovanni Piancastelli (September 14, 1845 – September 23, 1926) was an Italian painter and architect.

Biography

He was born to a family of little resources in Castel Bolognese. His initial lessons were under a Cappucini priest at a local convent. By virtue of the patronage of Counts Giuseppe Rossi and Domenico Zauli Naldi, by 1860, he had enrolled at the Scuola di Disegno in

Faenza Faenza (, , ; rgn, Fènza or ; la, Faventia) is an Italian city and comune of 59,063 inhabitants in the province of Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna, situated southeast of Bologna. Faenza is home to a historical manufacture of majolica-ware glazed eart ...

, where his teacher was Achille Farina. In 1862, through the patronage of Duke Camillo Zacchia, he then traveled to Rome where he apprenticed under

Guido Guidi Guido Guidi is an Italian comic book artist and penciller. He is best known for his work on Transformers comics. Dreamwave Productions A longtime Transformers fan, Guidi was brought in by Dreamwave Productions to be artist for their '' Trans ...

. By 1864, he enrolled in 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 ...

, where he had among teachers:

Francesco Podesti Francesco Podesti (21 March 1800 – 10 February 1895) was an Italian painter, active in a Romantic style. Together with Francesco Hayez and Giuseppe Bezzuoli, he is considered one of the greatest Italian painters of the first half of the 19th c ...

Alessandro Capalti Alessandro Capalti (25 September 1807 – 18 March 1868) was an Italian painter, mainly of historical subjects and portraits. Biography He was born in Rome, and there became a pupil of Tommaso Minardi and Gaspare Landi at the Academy of St Lu ...

, Vincenzo Pasqualoni, Annibale Angelini, Francesco Coghetti, and

Antonio Sarti Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular mal ...

. He painted

Genre painting Genre painting (or petit genre), a form of genre art, depicts aspects of everyday life by portraying ordinary people engaged in common activities. One common definition of a genre scene is that it shows figures to whom no identity can be attached ...

and landscapes early in his career, while later he was employed in painting portraits and religious designs. Among his works are ''Campagna Romana''; ''Emigrazione dall'Agro Romano'' (The Immigrants of the Roman countryside, displayed at the 1878 Paris Universal Exposition); ''Marina''; ''Spiaggia al Tramonto''; and the ''Moglie del Marinaio'' (''Sailor's Wife'' exhibited at Turin). At Bologna in 1888, he exhibited a painting on wood entitled ''Atropo'' and a water color titled ''Charitas''. In 1866-1872, he enlisted in the infantry, serving in

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuri ...

in 1871, where he met

Luigi Mussini Luigi Mussini (19 December 1813 – 18 June 1888) was an Italian painter, linked especially to the Purismo movement and to the Nazarene movement, Nazarenes. Life Mussini was born in Berlin, son of the composer Natale Mussini, ''Kapellmeister ...

. After his service, he is hired by Prince Marcantonio Borghese as a teacher of design and painting. In 1886, he was entrusted with reorganizing and transferring the dispersed Borghese collections, including works at the Villa Costaguti-Borghese at

Nettuno Nettuno is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Rome in the Lazio region of central Italy, south of Rome. A resort city and agricultural center on the Tyrrhenian Sea, it has a population of approximately 50,000. Economy It has a ...

to Villa Borghese on

Pincian Hill The Pincian Hill (; it, Pincio ; la, Mons Pincius) is a hill in the northeast quadrant of the historical centre of Rome. The hill lies to the north of the Quirinal, overlooking the Campus Martius. It was outside the original boundaries of th ...

. He became director of the

Galleria Borghese The Galleria Borghese () is an art gallery in Rome, Italy, housed in the former Villa Borghese Pinciana. At the outset, the gallery building was integrated with its gardens, but nowadays the Villa Borghese gardens are considered a separate tourist ...

in 1902. In 1865, he won an architectural competition held by the Congregation of the Virtuosi. In 1875, he was awarded two silver medals at Faenza's Esposizione Romagnola. In 1889, he was named ''Academic of Honor'' by the Bolognese Royal Academy of Fine Arts. He painted a ''Death of San Giovanni Nepomuceno'' for Prince Giulio Torlonia in 1894. In 1896, the art critic

Corrado Ricci Corrado may refer to: Places *Anticoli Corrado, comune in the City of Rome *Monte Vidon Corrado, comune in the Province of Fermo People Given name *See Corrado (given name) Surname *Andrea Corrado (1873-1963), Italian ship owner *Andrea Di Corrado ...

commissioned from Piancastelli several drawings for the story of ''Il Passo della Badessa'' (The Passage of Badessa), published in the magazine "Emporium". He became the curator of the

Borghese The House of Borghese is a princely family of Italian noble and papal background, originating as the Borghese or Borghesi in Siena, where they came to prominence in the 13th century and held offices under the ''commune''. During the 16th century, ...

art collection and aided

Adolfo Venturi Adolfo Venturi (3 September 1856, Modena – 10 June 1941, Santa Margherita Ligure) was an Italian art historian. His son, Lionello Venturi, was also an art historian. Biography He received his education in Modena and Florence, and in 1878 ...

in completing his catalogue of the works in 1893. In 1902, when he was director, the Italian state acquired the villa and collections. He resigned in 1906 to live in Bologna. In 1906, he was nominated to become a Knight of the

Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus The Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus ( it, Ordine dei Santi Maurizio e Lazzaro) (abbreviated OSSML) is a Roman Catholic dynastic order of knighthood bestowed by the royal House of Savoy. It is the second-oldest order of knighthood in the wo ...

.Castel Bolognese town website. He died at Bologna in 1926.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Piancastelli, Giovanni 1845 births 1926 deaths People from the Province of Ravenna 19th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 20th-century Italian painters Painters from Bologna 19th-century Italian male artists 20th-century Italian male artists