Giovanni Battis Piazzetta

Giovanni Battis Piazzetta (1683-1754), Italian painter, whose bold, dramatic style combines naturalism with the elegance and loose brushwork of the rococo style. He painted both secular and religious scenes, specializing in large altarpieces, and received commissions from churches as far away as Germany and Poland. Piazzetta also produced paintings of classical history, pastoral scenes, book illustrations, and numerous drawings of nudes.

Giovanni Battista Piazzetta was born in Venice, the son of sculptor Giacomo Piazzetta, and trained under Italian painter Antonio Molinari. In 1703 he studied briefly in Bologna with painter Giuseppe Maria Crespi, who pointed him toward the works of Italian painters Annibale Carracci and Guercino. From studying their paintings, Piazzetta gained a strong foundation in depicting the human figure. The naturalism in his paintings was further strengthened through his admiration for Italian painter Caravaggio, from whom he also learned to emphasize contrasts between light and dark. Employing dark backgrounds and dramatic highlights, Piazzetta limited his palette to somber tones of red and brown, rejecting the more colorful style then coming into fashion in Venice.

After about 1720 Piazzetta’s colors brightened somewhat, influenced by German painter Johann Liss and Italian painters Domenico Feti and Bernardo Strozzi. Piazzetta’s Saint James Led to Martyrdom (1722, San Stae, Venice) depicts a rugged executioner forcefully tying down Saint James, who is portrayed as an unkempt old man. Bold diagonals and loose brushwork dramatize the action. In a similar style, The Madonna and San Filippo Neri (1725, Santa Maria della Fava, Venice) shows Saint Philip Neri enraptured with devotion to the Madonna, who stands above him, distant and regal. The arrangement of figures and other elements form diagonals that zigzag across the canvas. This, together with strong contrasts of light and dark, help convey motion and grandeur, characteristics of the opulent Venetian style.

Piazzetta’s later works are subtler, the dramatic contrasts softened. Infused with a sense of mystery, The Fortune Teller (1740, Accademia, Venice) depicts two women in loose-fitting rustic dress, the central figure gazing haughtily at the viewer.

A gifted teacher, Piazzetta was named first director of the Venice Academy of Fine Arts in 1750. He influenced students such as Italian painter Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.