PELLEGRINI, Giovanni Antonio

The Allegories on the portego ceiling of the Palazzo Albrizzi, painted by Pellegrini, are surrounded by richly molded plaster decoration by Abbondio Stazio. The ceiling canvases within their curvilinear frame give the impression of being supported by the plaster angels which are almost in the round.

The Allegories on the portego ceiling of the Palazzo Albrizzi, painted by Pellegrini, are surrounded by richly molded plaster decoration by Abbondio Stazio. The ceiling canvases within their curvilinear frame give the impression of being supported by the plaster angels which are almost in the round.

Very early in his career, Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini, considerably influenced by Luca Giordano, absorbed the examples of Magnasco and Sebastiano Ricci and turned his style towards a refined decorative freedom in airily elegant works of pure rococo taste; and through his stays in several European artistic centres London, D�sseldorf, The Hague, Antwerp, Paris, Prague Dresden and Vienna, his work gained a certain popularity. The ‘Allegory of Sculpture’ and the ‘Allegory of Painting’ belong to his last years. They are an interweaving of the lightest of figural rhythms, a coloured web of impalpable, rarified weightlessness, shot through with silvery transparencies which recall the pastels of the artist’s sister-in-law, Rosalba Carriera. Like hers, the paintings of Pellegrini are emblematic of the skin-deep spiritual frivolity of a part of the eighteenth century.

Very early in his career, Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini, considerably influenced by Luca Giordano, absorbed the examples of Magnasco and Sebastiano Ricci and turned his style towards a refined decorative freedom in airily elegant works of pure rococo taste; and through his stays in several European artistic centres London, D�sseldorf, The Hague, Antwerp, Paris, Prague Dresden and Vienna, his work gained a certain popularity. The ‘Allegory of Sculpture’ and the ‘Allegory of Painting’ belong to his last years. They are an interweaving of the lightest of figural rhythms, a coloured web of impalpable, rarified weightlessness, shot through with silvery transparencies which recall the pastels of the artist’s sister-in-law, Rosalba Carriera. Like hers, the paintings of Pellegrini are emblematic of the skin-deep spiritual frivolity of a part of the eighteenth century.

This scene is one of the four paintings on the windowed wall in the central hall of the foresteria.

In 1696, Pellegrini embarked on the decoration of the small portego, a bedroom, and an alcove of the family villa belonging to Angelo Correr, a place of diversion and delight. On the bedroom vault is the representation Diana and Endymion.

This painting is an impressive example of the artist’s heroic and still youthful mode. The elderly and bearded Jews, their younger, muscular companions, and the bright highlights sharply cutting dark shadows indicate Pellegrini’s training with Paolo Pagani.

For the finest Baroque church of Vienna, the Karlskirche, built from 1716 to 1756, altarpieces were commissioned from two Austrian painters, Martino Altomonte and Daniel Gran, as well as from two celebrated Venetian masters, Sebastiano Ricci and Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini. A sketch of each of these paintings made in the early 1730s was brought to the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts. As in the case of Ricci’s picture, several versions of Pellegrini’s composition have come down to posterity. The respective versions at the Vienna Gallery, at Opocno in Bohemia, the one in Canada, formerly in a private collection of Vienna, all repeat with more or less noteworthy alterations the loose grouping, soft forms and eloquent gestures of the Budapest sketch and of the altarpiece.

This painting is on the entrance wall in the central hall of the foresteria.

In 1696, Pellegrini embarked on the decoration of the small portego, a bedroom, and an alcove of the family villa belonging to Angelo Correr, a place of diversion and delight. The frescoes that unfold on the walls of the portego depict episodes from the life of Alexander the Great. They are set in stucco frames on the wall surface, and their bottom edges are painted to imitate tapestry.

The scenes are: Alexander and Clitus (the present image); Thalestris, Queen of the Amazons, in the Presence of Alexander; Alexander before the Body of Darius; and Alexander and Poros.

The whole cycle has suffered the ravages of time, and by the nineteenth century the paintings were half-deteriorated.

In 1696, Pellegrini embarked on the decoration of the small portego, a bedroom, and an alcove of the family villa belonging to Angelo Correr, a place of diversion and delight. The frescoes that unfold on the walls of the portego depict episodes from the life of Alexander the Great. They are set in stucco frames on the wall surface, and their bottom edges are painted to imitate tapestry.

The scenes are: Alexander and Clitus; Thalestris, Queen of the Amazons, in the Presence of Alexander; Alexander before the Body of Darius; and Alexander and Poros (the present image).

The whole cycle has suffered the ravages of time, and by the nineteenth century the paintings were half-deteriorated.

In 1696, Pellegrini embarked on the decoration of the small portego, a bedroom, and an alcove of the family villa belonging to Angelo Correr, a place of diversion and delight. The frescoes that unfold on the walls of the portego depict episodes from the life of Alexander the Great. They are set in stucco frames on the wall surface, and their bottom edges are painted to imitate tapestry.

The scenes are: Alexander and Clitus; Thalestris, Queen of the Amazons, in the Presence of Alexander; Alexander before the Body of Darius (the present image); and Alexander and Poros.

The whole cycle has suffered the ravages of time, and by the nineteenth century the paintings were half-deteriorated.

This painting is a fine example of the mature work of Pellegrini, a great exponent of international Rococo, all centred on the quality of the bright colour and a light, softened design. The painting blends the neo-cinquecento style ushered in by Sebastiano Ricci with the chiaroscuro effects of Luca Giordano, Solimena, and Baciccio.

This scene is on one of the short walls in the central hall of the foresteria.

Pellegrini had an international career. With this painting, he was admitted to the Acad�mie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in Paris, the most influential in Europe at the time.

This painting is on the entrance wall in the central hall of the foresteria.

This scene is on one of the short walls in the central hall of the foresteria.

This scene is one of the four paintings on the windowed wall in the central hall of the foresteria.

This scene is one of the four paintings on the windowed wall in the central hall of the foresteria.

The pair of paintings, Susanna and the Elders, and Sophonisba Receiving a Cup of Poison, were painted during the artist’s first period in England. In this pair, Pellegrini portrays the stories of two women, Susanna and Sophonisba, who, since the Renaissance, had been regarded as paradigms of female virtue and had long been popular as subjects for artists.

Pellegrini was to return to these subjects later on his career.

The pair of paintings, Susanna and the Elders, and Sophonisba Receiving a Cup of Poison, were painted during the artist’s first period in England. In this pair, Pellegrini portrays the stories of two women, Susanna and Sophonisba, who, since the Renaissance, had been regarded as paradigms of female virtue and had long been popular as subjects for artists.

Pellegrini was to return to these subjects later on his career.

In one corner of the central hall in the foresteria, in an extremely charming illusionistic conceit, is a niche enclosed in panes of glass, behind which porcelain cups and coffee pots can be seen.

This painting is on the entrance wall in the central hall of the foresteria.

Toward the end of the seventeenth century, Cesare Alessandri, a wealthy Venetian merchant had a wing erected to the side of his villa, to be used as foresteria (guest quarters). Decorations embellish three rooms on the second floor; the paintings in the central hall and in the northwest room are attributed to Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini. The fresco cycles in these two rooms constitute the first private fresco commission given to Pellegrini after his return to Venice from Rome. His stay in Rome had been beneficial to his development, enabling him to incorporate into his own visual repertory the language of Luca Giordano and Baciccio.

In the central hall, within faux-stucco frames, are depictions of mythological scenes inspired by Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The frescoes are located within vertical compartments of various sizes on the walls of the hall, which, because of its elongated shape, seems almost like a gallery. The light is diffused through three large, arched windows. The windowed wall contains the paintings Apollo and Daphne, Sleeping Endymion, Salmacis and the Hermaphrodite, and Cadmus Sowing the Dragons Teeth. The two short walls have the Rape of Deianira and Narcissus at the Spring on one side, and the Rape of Europa and on the other. Mercury and Argus. The entrance wall has the representations Danaë and the Shower of Gold, Venus Weeping over the Death of Adonis, and Pan and Syrinx.

Above, a painted frieze of interwoven laurel leaves circle the perimeter of the room. Perched atop the frieze, are child musicians, parrots, squirrels, and little monkeys. The decorative program is completed on the curvature of the ceiling, where eight inserts depict putti and little satyrs at play. On the vault are three coffers in which the frescoes for the most part faded away.

Toward the end of the seventeenth century, Cesare Alessandri, a wealthy Venetian merchant had a wing erected to the side of his villa, to be used as foresteria (guest quarters). Decorations embellish three rooms on the second floor; the paintings in the central hall and in the northwest room are attributed to Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini. The fresco cycles in these two rooms constitute the first private fresco commission given to Pellegrini after his return to Venice from Rome. His stay in Rome had been beneficial to his development, enabling him to incorporate into his own visual repertory the language of Luca Giordano and Baciccio.

The frescoes that adorn the northwest room, with the scene Hannibal Swearing his Hatred of the Romans, one can detect a certain stiffening of the figures compared to the rendering of those in the central hall. This may be the fault of the faux architecture, which is rather cumbersome, out of proportion.

The story depicted in this painting is related by Livy in The War with Hannibal: The History of Rome from its Foundations. After bringing the African War to a close, Hamilcar, commander of Carthage during their defeat to Rome in the First Punic War, was offering sacrifices before transporting his army to Spain, the boy Hannibal, nine years old, was coaxing his father to take him with him, and his father led him up to the altar and made him swear with his hand laid on the victim that as soon as he possibly could he would show himself the enemy of Rome.

This is the scene which Pellegrini has depicted, and he has opted to almost fill the composition with his figures, which focuses attention to the emotional relationship between father and son. A notable feature of the painting, showing the influence of Sebastiano Ricci and Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, is the rich and vivid colouring used by Pellegrini.