GALLIMBERTI, Francesco - b. 1755 Venezia, d. 1803 Wien

Italian painter and draftsman. He is recorded among the followers of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. His known works, however, do not confirm a particular influence of the great Venetian master, rather, in an attempt to break free from Venetian pictorial tradition, they show his attention to Pietro Longhi and Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo.

Gallimberti was also an engraver, he produced numerous designs for prints. His first known print was a reproduction of the Council of the Gods by Paolo Veronese, an etching dated 1776 and dedicated to the senator Angelo Querini.

Around 1778 arrived in Venice the engraver Giovanni De Pian (1764-1800). They became friends and started a cooperation. In 1785 the two artists worked together to reproduce the cycle of paintings by Vittore Carpaccio for the School of St. Ursula. In May 1797 they were adhered to the cause of democratic government that ruled the city until October, when, by the Treaty of Campo Formio, ended the independence of the Republic. During these months, they collaborated on a series of aquatints, preserved at the Museo Correr, depicting the prison conditions in Palazzo Ducale.

Prison cell

This engraving was executed by Giovanni De Pian ((1764-1800) from a series of drawings by Francesco Gallimberti. These drawing illustrate conditions in the Palazzo Ducale cells. Known as ‘pozzi’ (wells) because they were below the water line, they were demolished by the provisional government of Venice on 25 May 1797.