Piero or Pietro Paolo Vasta (31 July 1697 - 28 November 1760) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, mainly active in the east of his native

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

Biography

He was born in

Acireale Acireale (; scn, Jaciriali, locally shortened to ''Jaci'' or ''Aci'') is a coastal city and ''comune'' in the north-east of the Metropolitan City of Catania, Sicily, southern Italy, at the foot of Mount Etna, on the coast facing the Ionian Sea. ...

. and initially trained with both the painters Giacinto Platania and

Antonio Filocamo Antonio Filocamo (Messina, 1669–1743) and his brother Paolo were Italian painters of the Baroque period. Biography Natives of Messina, they are noticed by Hackert in his ''Memorie de' Pittori Messinesi''. They were educated in the school of ...

, who directed the fresco decoration in 1711 of the Cathedral of Acireale. At the age of 17 years, he moved to Rome, where he was mentored putatively by

Luigi Garzi Luigi Garzi (1638 – 1721) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, whose work displayed heavy influences of the Bolognese painter, Guido Reni. Biography Born in Pistoia. He started learning from a poorly known landscape painter, Salomo ...

. Vasta was apparently admitted to the Accademia di San Luca in Rome; however, little of his work here is known. He returned to Acireale in 1731. One of his first works were frescoes for the church of San Sebastiano, where he could be compared to Venerando Costanzo, who was also painting frescoes contemporaneously. He would next add frescoes depicting scenes from the Old Testament to the

Cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...

, here competing with Costanzo for the commission. He also painted a large ''Marriage at Cana'' canvas for the church. Among the churches in Acireale containing his paintings are the

Santi Pietro e Paolo Santi Pietro e Paolo may refer to the following churches in Italy: * Santi Pietro e Paolo, Acireale * Santi Pietro e Paolo, Arese * Santi Pietro e Paolo, Brebbia * Santi Pietro e Paolo, Buonconvento * Santi Pietro e Paolo, Castelnuovo di Garfag ...

, Santa Maria del Suffragio, and San Camillo (also known as Chiesa dei Crociferi). Among his pupils in Acireale were

Vito d'Anna Vito D'Anna (14 October 1718 – 13 October 1769) was an Italian painter, considered the most prominent painter of Palermitan rococo and one of the most important artists of Sicily. Biography He was the father of Alessandro D'Anna, the brother- ...

, Giuseppe Grasso, Mariano Cali, Michele Vecchio (1730-1799), Francesco Finocchiaro, Giovanni Leonardi, Santi Leotta, Giovanni Musmeci, and Ignazio Castorina. His son Alessandro Vasta was also a painter.Relazione Accademica delle Accademia di scienze, lettere e belle arti
Antonino Sardo, Accademia Zelanti, Acireale 1836, page 29-31.

References

*Derived from Italian Wikipedia entry 1697 births 1760 deaths Painters from Sicily 18th-century Italian painters Italian male painters Italian Baroque painters 18th-century Italian male artists {{Italy-painter-17thC-stub