Matteo Ponzone (17th century) 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, active between 1630 and 1700 mainly 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 ...
. He was a pupil of
Santo Peranda.
Several of his works are in the churches and public buildings of
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 ...
, particularly in
San Giorgio Maggiore, and in the church of the "Padri Croceferi".
Life

According to several sources, Ponzone was born in Venice, identified as ''«Mathi et Simon fiol de noble Patron Claudio Bolzon et Agnesina Negro equal in Madonna»'' born in the parish of
Saint Moses November 9, 1583. Some other sources reported his date of birth approximately in 1586 in
Rab, in the far north of
Dalmatia
Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...
, that time owned by
Republic of Venice.
Matteo Ponzone operated mainly in Venice, unless an interim period of ten years spent in Dalmatia, leaving their works in various locations of the coast.
Ponzone was young student of
Jacopo Palma the Younger, and was related to the painter
Sante Peranda
Sante Peranda (1566–1638) was an Italian painter of the late- Renaissance period.
He was a pupil of the painter Leonardo Corona and later Palma il Giovane. Also known as ''Santo Peranda''. He painted a ''Descent from the cross'' for San Pro ...
, who was probably one of his teachers and whose influence is evident in the work of Ponzone. He joined the ''Fraglia dei Pittori'' of Venice from 1613 to 1633, being one of the busiest in town throughout this period. In his workshop he had as pupils
Antonio Zanchi,
Andrea Celesti,
Pietro Negri
Pietro Negri (1628, Venice - 31 May 1679, Venice) was an Italian painter in the Baroque art, Baroque style who belonged to the so-called "tenebrosi" (dark or gloomy ones).
Biography
He was likely born in Venice. Early sources assumed that he ...
, and
Giovanni Carboncino
Giovanni Carboncino (circa 1638-after 1703) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active between 1680 and 1692 mainly in Venice. He was born in Treviso, and became a pupil of Matteo Ponzone.
He is also described as a imitator of Titian. He ...
, who assist him in various paintings orders of the last Venetian period.
The large amount of work left ''in situ'' adequately define the importance for the history of Venetian painting of the first '600, although the significance was detected only in recent years. Similarly, the caliber of orders received -those of particular importance include works in the churches of
San Giorgio Maggiore,
Madonna dell'Orto, and
San Cassiano
San Cassiano is a town and '' comune'' in the Italian province of Lecce and region of Apulia
it, Pugliese
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- account for the great success and wide contribution of Ponzone to Venetian artistic history.
Major works
In Venice
''Flagellation of Jesus.'' Madonna dell'Orto
* Church of
Madonna dell'Orto (Our Lady of the Garden): a series of portraits of saints, the''St George slaying the dragon with Saints Jerome and Tryphon'',
[significant Dalmatian iconography.] the ''Flagellation of Jesus.''
*
San Giorgio Maggiore; ''St George slaying the dragon''
*
San Cassiano
San Cassiano is a town and '' comune'' in the Italian province of Lecce and region of Apulia
it, Pugliese
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: ''Christ on the cross and four Saints''
*
Church of San Martino: ''St John writing the Apocalypse''. Considered one of his masterpieces, is clearly inspired by
Tintoretto.
In other regions of the Republic of Venice
* ''Adoration of the Magi'' and ''Annunciation'', today in the museum of
Treviso.
* A series of paintings for the
Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua.
* A series of paintings now in the museum of
Cividale.
* ''Santa Barbara'' at the Cathedral of
Koper
Koper (; it, Capodistria, hr, Kopar) is the fifth largest city in Slovenia. Located in the Istrian region in the southwestern part of the country, approximately five kilometres () south of the border with Italy and 20 kilometres () from Triest ...
(Capodistria).
*''Stories of the Eucharist (eight paintings)'', ''Saints Jerome, Francis and Catherine'', in the Cathedral of Split. ''Il Ciclo di San Doimo'' in the same cathedral. The work was begun in 1639 by Ponzone but not completed.
*''Portrait of San Lorenzo Giustiniani'' also in Split.
* Attributed to Ponzone are twenty paintings in the ceiling of the church of San Francesco
Å ibenik, as well as other paintings of saints.
*''The Last Supper''in the refectory of the Franciscan convent of
Hvar.
Notes
Bibliography
* Kruno Prijateli, ''Le opere di Matteo Ponzone in Dalmazia'', in ''Arte Veneta'', XX, 1966, pp. 153–154.
* Luciano Rota, ''Matteo e Sforza Ponzone'', in Francesco Semi-Vanni Tacconi (cur.), ''Istria e Dalmazia, Uomini e Tempi. Dalmazia'', Del Bianco, Udine 1992
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ponzone, Matteo
17th-century Italian painters
Italian male painters
Italian Baroque painters
Painters from Venice
Year of death unknown
Year of birth unknown