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BOTTANI, Giuseppe - b. 1717 Cremona, d. 1784 Mantova - WGA

BOTTANI, Giuseppe

(b. 1717 Cremona, d. 1784 Mantova)

Italian painter. He studied first in Florence under Antonio Puglieschi and Vincenzo Meucci (1694-1766). In 1735 he settled in Rome where, as a pupil of Agostino Masucci, he deepened his knowledge of the Antique and of the pictorial tradition of the 16th and 17th centuries. His paintings, executed in the classical Baroque style epitomized by Reni and Maratti, are characterized by their erudite composition, precise drawing and enamel-like colours. The large altarpiece of St Paola Leaving for the Holy Land (1745; Milan, Brera) reflects his study of the proto-Neo-classical style prevalent in Rome.

He painted various religious works, mostly intended for churches in Pontremoli (Massa Carrara), from where his family derived. Among them are the Madonna with Saints (1756) and the Assumption of the Virgin, both in S Francesco, the St Francis Xavier in Ecstasy (signed and dated 1757) in San Niccolò and the Ascension (1764) in San Giacomo. The painting of the Fair at Maccarese (signed and dated 1755; Rome, Palazzo Braschi) is typical of his landscape and genre scenes.

In 1769 Bottani was appointed Director of the Accademia di Belle Arti in Mantua, where his activity provoked a classical trend in painting. During these years he executed a series of altarpieces for local churches, the designs for six high reliefs for a room in the Accademia and some paintings on secular themes. In his last period he painted St Vincent Ferrer Preaching (Mantua, Palazzo Ducale) and the Holy Family with SS Joseph, Zeno and Stephen (1779; Mantua, Sant’Apollonia), in both of which he demonstrates an extreme delicacy of execution.

Hagar and the Angel
Hagar and the Angel by

Hagar and the Angel

Hagar, the Egyptian hand maiden of Sarah was the mother of Ishmael, Abraham’s first son. When Isaac, Sarah’s son, was born Ishmael mocked his younger brother so that Sarah asked Abraham to banish him, together with his mother. Abraham provided them with bread and a bottle of water and sent them off into the desert of Beersheba. When the water was spent Hagar put Ishmael under a bush to die and then sat some way off, weeping. But an angel appeared, by tradition the archangel Michael, and disclosed a well of water near by, so they were both saved. Two scenes, the banishment, and the appearance of the angel are common in 17th century Italian and Dutch painting.

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