Giovanni Ghisolfi
Giovanni Ghisolfi | |
|---|---|
Giovanni Ghisolfi, Saint Peter Freed from Prison, Santa Maria della Vittoria, Milan | |
| Born | 1623 |
| Died | 7 July 1683 (aged 59–60) |
| Known for | Painting |
| Movement | Baroque |
Giovanni Ghisolfi (1623 – 7 June 1683) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, best known for his landscape paintings and capricci.
Biography
Born in Milan in 1623, he initially trained with his uncle, the painter Antonio Volpino. At the age of 17, he traveled to Rome with his friend Antonio Busca, where he studied the work of Pietro da Cortona and frequented the studio of Salvator Rosa. In Rome he painted vedute and capricci, mainly landscapes with architectural fragments and ruins.[1][2] They would garner renewed interest with the rise of Neoclassicism in the mid-late 18th century.
In 1661, he decorated a chapel of the Certosa di Pavia. In 1664 he was called to Vicenza to execute a series of decorative landscape frescoes in the Palazzo Trissino Baston and the Palazzo Giustiniani Baggio. He painted also in Palazzo Borromeo Arese at Cesano, Reatis' Palace in Lissone and in the fourth chapel of the Sacri Monti and frescoed the vaults of the Basilica of San Vittore in Varese.
Ghisolfi died in Milan on 7 June 1683 and was buried in the church of San Giovanni in Conca. Among his pupils was his nephew, Bernardo Racchetti from Milan (1639–1702). Ghisolfi’s reputation today rests on his capricci, small landscapes with ruins and romantic figures, which anticipate the style of Giovanni Paolo Panini. His canvases are preserved in many European galleries, among them the Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh (e.g. Landscape with Ruins, Ruins and Figures), the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire de Narbonne (e.g. The Triumph of Silenus) and the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden (e.g. Harbour Scene).
Gallery
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The Triumph of Silenus, Musée d'Art et d'Histoire de Narbonne
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Architectural Capriccio With Conversing Figures, priv. col.
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Two Classical Temples in Ruins with Statue, priv. col.
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A Ruined Classical Temple of the Tuscan Order with Figures, priv. col.
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Ruins and Figures, The Torrie Collection, Edinburgh
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Capriccio, Beecroft Art Gallery, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England
References
- ^ Roman ruins with three columns, vedute of the Temple of Vespasian and Titus from Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna.
- ^ Roman ruins Archived 2011-01-05 at the Wayback Machine from Liechtenstein Museum.
Bibliography
- Wittkower, Rudolf (1980). Art and Architecture in Italy, 1600-1750. Penguin Books. p. 350.
- "Ghisolfi, Giovanni". Artnet. Archived from the original on 14 February 2005.
External links
- Conti, Giulia (2000). "GHISOLFI, Giovanni". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (in Italian). Vol. 54: Ghiselli–Gimma. Rome: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana. ISBN 978-88-12-00032-6.