Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (also called Giambattista Piazzetta or Giambattista Valentino Piazzetta) (February 13, 1682 or 1683 – April 28, 1754) was an
Italian Rococo painter of religious subjects and
genre scenes
Genre art is the pictorial representation in any of various media of scenes or events from everyday life, such as markets, domestic settings, interiors, parties, inn scenes, work, and street scenes. Such representations (also called genre works, ...
.
Biography
Piazzetta was born in
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
, the son of a sculptor
Giacomo Piazzetta, from whom he had early training in wood carving. Starting in 1697 he studied with the painter
Antonio Molinari. By Piazzetta's account, he studied under
Giuseppe Maria Crespi
Giuseppe Maria Crespi (March 14, 1665 – July 16, 1747), nicknamed Lo Spagnuolo ("The Spaniard"), was an Italian late Baroque painter of the Bolognese School. His eclectic output includes religious paintings and portraits, but he is now most ...
while living in Bologna in 1703–05, although there is no record by Crespi of formal tutelage. Thanks to Crespi,
Carlo Cignani
Carlo Cignani (15 May 1628 – 8 September 1719) was an Italian painter. His innovative style referred to as his 'new manner' introduced a reflective, intimate mood of painting and presaged the later pictures of Guido Reni and Guercino, as well a ...
's influence reached Piazzetta. Piazzetta did find inspiration in Crespi's art, in which the
chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro ( , ; ), in art, is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to achi ...
of
Caravaggio was transformed into an idiom of graceful charm in his pictures of common folk. He was also greatly impressed by the altarpieces created by another Bolognese painter of a half-century earlier,
Guercino
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (February 8, 1591 – December 22, 1666),Miller, 1964 better known as Guercino, or il Guercino , was an Italian Baroque painter and draftsman from Cento in the Emilia region, who was active in Rome and Bologna. The vi ...
.
Around 1710, he returned to Venice. There he won recognition as a leading artist despite his limited output and his unassuming nature, but he ultimately was less patronized, both in Venice and especially abroad, than two other eminent stars in Venetian late-
Baroque/
Rococo
Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...
,
Ricci Ricci () is an Italian surname, derived from the adjective "riccio", meaning curly. Notable Riccis Arts and entertainment
* Antonio Ricci (painter) (c.1565–c.1635), Spanish Baroque painter of Italian origin
* Christina Ricci (born 1980), Ameri ...
and
Tiepolo
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo ( , ; March 5, 1696 – March 27, 1770), also known as Giambattista (or Gianbattista) Tiepolo, was an Italian painter and printmaker from the Republic of Venice who painted in the Rococo style, considered an import ...
. Yet Piazzeta's range of topics was broader than that of these artists; Tiepolo, for example, never painted genre paintings and restricted himself to grand history and religious altarpieces. Ricci and Tiepolo had a luminous palette and facile ease that allowed them to carpet meters of ceiling with frescoes, although with a superficiality and glamor that is absent from Piazzetta's darker and more intimate depictions. Nonetheless, Tiepolo, who collaborated with Piazzetta on some projects, was greatly influenced by the older artist; in turn, the luminosity and brilliance of Tiepolo's palette influenced Piazzetta in his later years.
Piazzetta created an art of warm, rich color and a mysterious poetry. He often depicted peasantry, even if often in a grand fashion. He was highly original in the intensity of color he sometimes used in his shadows, and in the otherworldly quality he gave to the light which throws part of a composition into relief. The gestures and glances of his protagonists hint at unseen dramas, as in one of his best-known paintings, ''The Soothsayer'' (1740, now in
Gallerie dell'Accademia
The Gallerie dell'Accademia is a museum gallery of pre-19th-century art in Venice, northern Italy. It is housed in the Scuola della Carità on the south bank of the Grand Canal, within the sestiere of Dorsoduro. It was originally the gallery o ...
, Venice). He brought similar elusiveness to works of a religious nature, such as the ''
Sotto in su
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 ...
'' ''Glory of
St. Dominic'' in the Church of
''Santi Giovanni e Paolo''.
Also notable are his many carefully rendered drawings of half-length figures or groups of heads. Usually in
charcoal or black chalk with white heightening on gray paper, these are filled with the same spirit that animates his paintings, and were purchased by collectors as independent works. He also produced
engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an in ...
s.
In 1750 Piazzetta became the first director of the newly founded
Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia
The is a public tertiary academy of art in Venice, Italy.
History
The Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia was founded on 24 September 1750; the statute dates from 1756. The first director was Giovanni Battista Piazzetta; Gianbattista Tiepol ...
, and he devoted the last few years of his life to teaching. He was elected a member of the Bolognese
Accademia Clementina
The Accademia di Belle Arti di Bologna ("academy of fine arts of Bologna") is a public tertiary academy of fine art in Bologna, in Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy. It has a campus in Cesena.
Giorgio Morandi taught engraving at the Accademia f ...
in 1727. Among the painters in his studio were
Domenico Maggiotto
Domenico Maggiotto or Domenico Fedeli (1713–1794) was an Italian painter and engraver of the late-Baroque period.
He was one of the main pupils of Giovanni Battista Piazzetta
Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (also called Giambattista Piazzetta ...
,
Francesco Dagiu
Francesco Capella (1714–1784), called Il Capella and Francesco Dagiu, was a scholar of Giovanni Battista Piazzetta. He was born in Venice, Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a coun ...
(il Capella),
Johann Heinrich Tischbein,
Egidio Dall'Oglio Egidio is an Italian masculine given name. People with the name include:
Given name
* Egidio (saint) (circa 650–710), Christian hermit saint
* Egidio Colonna, Giles of Rome (circa 1243–1316), European intellectual, archbishop
* Egidio da Viterb ...
, and
Antonio Marinetti
Antonio Marinetti, also called ''il Chiozzotro'' (Chioggia, born circa 1700) was an Italian painter, active in a late- Baroque style.
''Ragazzo con mela'' - Ca' Rezzonico, Venice
Biography
He was a pupil of Giovanni Battista Piazzetta. He paint ...
. The engraver
Marco Pitteri was affiliated with his studio, and engraved many of his works. Among younger painters who emulated his style are
Giovanni Battista Pissati Giovanni may refer to:
* Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname
* Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data
* '' Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend ...
,
Giulia Lama,
Federico Bencovich
upright 1.2, ''Saint Andrew among the Saints Batholomew, Carlo Borromeo, Lucy and Apollonia'', ca. 1710–1716
Federico Bencovich (1667 – 8 July 1753) was a late Baroque painter from Dalmatia working in Italy. He is best known as ''Federico Ben ...
, and
Francesco Polazzo
Francesco Polazzo (1683–1753) was an Italian painter of the late-Baroque period, active mainly in Venice. He was a pupil of Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, and painted portraits and historical subjects, though better known as a restorer of pict ...
(1683–1753). He died in Venice on April 28, 1754.
Selected works
*''St.James Led to Matyrdom'' (1717)
Chiesa di San Stae, Venice.
*''Madonna and child appearing to St Philip Neri'' (1725-7)
*''Glory of St.Dominic'' (1725–1727) Chiesa di
Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice
The Basilica dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo, known in Venetian as San Zanipolo, is a church in the Castello ''sestiere'' of Venice, Italy.
One of the largest churches in the city, it has the status of a minor basilica. After the 15th century the fu ...
.
*''Ecstasy of St.Francis'' (1732)
*''Assumption'' (1735)
*''St. Margaret of Cortona (1737) National Gallery Art, Washington D
*''Sacrifice of Isaac'', (after 1735, unfinished
*
:File:Piazzetta, Giovanni - Rebecca at the Well - c. 1740.jpg, ''Rebecca at the well'', c 1740
* ''Fortune Teller''(1740)
* ''The Pastoral'' (1739–41)
*The Death of Darius (1746)
*Peasant Girl (1720–22)
*Portrait of Giulia Lama(c.1715-1720) Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum. Madrid.
*The Sacrifice of Isaac (c.1715) Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum on loan at The MNAC, Barcelona.
*Portrait of a Young Woman in Profile with a Mask in her Right Hand (c.1720-1730) Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection on loan at The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid.
Gallery
File:Giovanni Battista Piazzetta - The Ecstasy of St Francis - WGA17423.jpg, Ecstasy of St Francis
File:Giovanni Battista Piazzetta - The Guardian Angel with Sts Anthony of Padua and Gaetano Thiene - WGA17425.jpg, St Anthony of Padua, St Gaetano, and Guardian Angel
File:Santa Maria del Rosario (Venice) Giovanni Battista Piazzetta - Three Dominican Saints.jpg, ''Three Dominican Saints'', Gesuati
Santa Maria del Rosario (St. Mary of the Rosary), commonly known as I Gesuati, is an 18th-century Dominican church in the Sestiere of Dorsoduro, on the Giudecca canal in Venice, northern Italy. The classical style building has a well-lit interio ...
, Venice
File:Interior of Santi Giovanni e Paolo (Venice) - The Glory of St. Dominic by Piazzetta.jpg, Glory of St Dominic, Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice
File:Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (attr) Junge Frau mit Hündchen.jpg, Young woman with Dog
File:Giovanni Battista Piazzetta - A Young Ensign - WGA17424.jpg, Young Ensign
File:Giovanni Battista Piazzetta - Peasant Girl - WGA17430.jpg, Peasant Girl Asleep
File:Giovanni Battista Piazzetta - Shepherd Boy - WGA17431.jpg, Shepherd Boy
File:Piazzetta, Giovanni - The Death of Darius - c. 1746.jpg, The Death of Darius
File:Giovanni Battista Piazzetta 003.jpg, Rebecca at the Well
File:Giovanni Battista Piazzetta - The Sacrifice of Isaac - WGA17427.jpg, The Sacrifice of Isaac
File:Piazzetta Beggar boy.jpg, ''Beggar boy'' (1725–30), oil on canvas. Art Institute of Chicago
Notes
References
*Encyclopædia Britannica (1990)
Britannica online*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Piazzetta, Giovanni Battista
1682 births
1754 deaths
17th-century Italian painters
Italian male painters
18th-century Italian painters
Italian Baroque painters
Painters from Venice
Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia faculty
Catholic engravers
18th-century Italian male artists