Giovanni Battista Piazzetta

Background

He was born in Venice on February 13, 1683.

Career

Piazzetta began his career in the studio of his father, Giacomo, a woodcarver. Soon after assisting the latter to carve the still-surviving bookcases of the library of the Church of Santi Giovanni e Paolo at Venice, he abandoned the family profession and began to study painting under Antonio Molinari. In about 1703 he went to Bologna, where he worked in the studio of Giuseppi Maria Crespi. He was back in Venice by 1711 and continued to work there until his death.

Little is known of the dating of Piazzetta’s paintings, especially those of his youth. His “St. James Led to Martyrdom” (Venice) dates to 1717; at this period he was a powerful influence on the young Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, who was to become the most famous Venetian painter of the 18th century. In about 1725–27 he undertook his only ceiling painting, the “Glorification of St. Dominic, ” for the Chapel of the Sacrament in Santi Giovanni e Paolo. The “Ecstasy of St. Francis, ” perhaps his finest religious work, dates from about 1732, and some three years later he was commissioned to execute an “Assumption” for the elector of Cologne. The celebrated “Fortune Teller” is dated 1740. “The Pastoral” and the “Idyll by the Seashore, ” both in the same Rococo-pastoral vein, must have been painted about the same time or a little before. In his last years he carried out a number of large-scale decorations with subjects taken from classical history.

In 1727 Piazzetta was elected a member of the Clementine Academy of Bologna, and, on the foundation of the Venetian Academy in 1750, he was made its first director and teacher of drawing from the nude. He was a very slow worker and in spite of his popularity was compelled to produce innumerable drawings for sale to support his large family.

Achievements

• He was one of the most famous artists in Europe for a major portion of his life due to his masterful creations but as far as his most important work is concerned it is hard to look past the 10 canvasses he created for the Grand Canal of Venice in 1729.

Connections

Tiepolo married Maria Cecilia Guardi, who belonged to a noble family, in the year 1719. The couple had nine children, four of which were daughters and among the sons only three survived.

spose:

Maria Cecilia Guardi

She belonged to a noble family.

Son:

Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo

He was an Italian painter and printmaker in etching.

Son:

Lorenzo Baldissera Tiepolo

He was an artist.

References

• Piazzetta: A tercentenary exhibition of drawings, prints, and books