BEVILACQUA, Giovanni Carlo

(b. 1775 Venezia, d. 1849 Venezia)

Italian painter, a pupil of Francesco Maggiotto. He was born into a family of modest origins, however, had a good art education thanks to his parents. He won a prize in a competition organized by the Academy of Parma, however, he remained linked to Venice and the local Academy where he became a teacher.

Bevilacqua was very active during the reign of Napoleon, he frescoed - among others - the Procuratie Vecchie and the Villa Pisani at Stra. Later he devoted himself to work for private and parochial clients producing a total of about 900 paintings.

He wrote an autobiography in 1848 describing many details of his life and works.

Cupid and Psyche

With the Peace of Bratislava (1805), Venice was incorporated into the French Empire. It was decided that a new sovereign’s residence was required for Napoleon and the viceroy, Eug�ne de Beauharnais. Once the idea of converting the Palazzo Ducale had been abandoned, the notion was mooted to use the Procuratie Nuove and the Libreria Marciana for this purpose.

The interiors of the nearby Procuratie Vecchie, privately owned, were also restored during this period. Here Giuseppe Borsato, Giovanni Carlo Bevilacqua, and the less well-known Pietro Moro were employed by the old aristocracy as well as by new bourgeois clients.

The picture shows a scene on one of the walls of the reception rooms in the Procuratie Vecchie.

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Victory Guiding Peace to Crown Europe

This fresco was executed for the Camera del General Consiglio in the Palazzo Reale, Venice. The work celebrated a regime inspired by the ideals of peace that followed Napoleonic domination.

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