ZELOTTI, Giovanni Battista

The Chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary was destroyed by fire in 1867. The restored chapel was reopened only in 1959. It is now decorated with many 16th-17th-century paintings originated from other Venetian churches and collections. Zelotti’s painting belongs to this decoration.

Two small rooms of grotesques conclude the decorative cycle of the villa. Here cupids, satyrs, garlands of roses, pergolas, birds, fish, and a variety of animals are distributed on the walls without any thematic intention but with great fantasy and compositional richness.

Two small rooms of grotesques conclude the decorative cycle of the villa. Here cupids, satyrs, garlands of roses, pergolas, birds, fish, and a variety of animals are distributed on the walls without any thematic intention but with great fantasy and compositional richness.

The Hall of the Arts owes its name to the six personifications that are depicted in pairs between the columns: Astronomy and Architecture, Poetry and Painting, Sculpture and Music.

The picture shows the personification of Music.

The Hall of the Arts owes its name to the six personifications that are depicted in pairs between the columns: Astronomy and Architecture, Poetry and Painting, Sculpture and Music.

The picture shows the personification of Architecture.

In the central hall of the villa, imposing, monumental arcades with projecting trabeation, crowned by tympanums, stand out against the walls like stage sets, framing two episodes from the life of Alexander the Great.

In the central hall of the villa, imposing, monumental arcades with projecting trabeation, crowned by tympanums, stand out against the walls like stage sets, framing two episodes from the life of Alexander the Great.

On three sides of the Hall of Olympus, high up in the patch of sky that illuminates the scene, mighty gods sit above the clouds. In the present detail, a musing Jupiter sits among the other gods and, exhorted by Juno, he must decide whether to allow Persephone, to return periodically to earth to embrace her mother, Ceres, thereby enabling nature to reawaken through the cycle of seasons.

This detail shows Ceres, Mercury and Persephone.

This detail shows Bacchus and other gods.

The Hall of the Arts owes its name to the allegorical figures that sit high above the faux niches and windows, and flank busts of philosophers and emperors. We can identify among them the figures of Poetry with a large book, paired with Architecture with a compass. The Muses tower over fallen prisoners portrayed in their painstaking anatomical detail.

The Muses tower over fallen prisoners portrayed in their painstaking anatomical detail. The picture shows a detail of an elderly prisoner.

The Hall of the Arts owes its name to the allegorical figures that sit high above the faux niches and windows, and flank busts of philosophers and emperors. We can identify among them the figures of Painting with brushes, in the company of Music with a lute. The Muses tower over fallen prisoners portrayed in their painstaking anatomical detail.

The Muses tower over fallen prisoners portrayed in their painstaking anatomical detail. The picture shows a detail of a Turkish prisoner.

The detail shows faux architecture with bust of Caesar between allegorical figures and panoplies, on the inside a landscape with ruins.

The ceiling seems to be held up by gigantic caryatids that appear on the walls. Muses with poets appear in the spaces between the caryatids. The present detail of a wall depicts two Muses inspiring a poet between two monochrome caryatids.

In the central hall of the villa, in one of the two illusory windows, seated on a marble bench, a gentleman in sixteenth-century dress - probably the client, Girolamo Godi - turns his back on a landscape that is setting for The Rape of Ganymede.

In the central hall of the villa, in a faux gilded frame above a door, the allegoric scene Hercules at the Crossroads is depicted.

On the basis of the coat of arms (top left), the picture can be linked to the wedding of Anna della Torre and Giambattista Pindemonte in Verona in 1547. There are problems with the state of conservation of the picture. Paint has rubbed off in places, and corrections and overpaintings by other hands make it difficult to judge the original work. X-rays of the right-hand side revealed another figure in the curtain area that was possibly lost during an earlier restoration. In the past, the painting was often attributed to the young Veronese. It is however an exemplary documentation of the mutual links between him and a group of contemporary Verona-based painters that included not only Zelotti but also Battista dell’Angelo del Moro, Paolo Farinati and Domenico Brusasorzi.

In the Room of Sofonisba, the scenes framed by Corinthian columns, narrate the tragic final events in the life of Sofonisba, queen of the Numidians. The left wall shows The Weeping Sofonisba Welcoming Massinissa; the central section has Sofonisba Imploring Massinissa; and on the right is Sofonisba Receiving Poison.

The picture shows the scene Sofonisba Receiving Poison.

An important phase in Venetian art began with the commission for ornamental paintings in the rooms of the Palazzo Ducale (Doge’s Palace), where the Grand Council was held. The choice fell on a modest painter, Giovan Battista Ponchino, who wisely gave a free hand to his two young and brilliant assistants, Giovan Battista Zelotti and Paolo Veronese. These youthful masters recently came to Venice from the mainland and had already made their name with decorations in villas in the Veneto region. Paolo Veronese was soon to reach the zenith of fame; Zelotti’s career was less brilliant but he, too, helped to create a new style of allegorical secular painting in Venice.

The vast Central Hall, around which the rooms are distributed, is accessed by a vestibule whose vault is completely covered by a graceful pergola of vines laden with mature clusters of grapes, while in the fragment of sky that opens up at the centre, a cupid gets ready to scatter roses.

The much-feared Consiglio dei Dieci (Council of Ten) was responsible for Venice’s security. Its meeting-place, the Sala del Consiglio dei Dieci is the first of a series of rooms used for the administration of justice. Paolo Veronese and Gian Battista Zelotti made their Venetian debut here as the assistants of the painter Giovan Battista Ponchino. Zelotti’s oval painting is one of the nine surviving paintings in the ceiling. (The tenth was confiscated by the art commissars of Napoleon and removed to Paris. Now it is replaced by a copy.)

Regarding the oval paintings in the ceiling, Zelotti could match Veronese for colour and light, but his allegories tend to be rather clumsy, as can be seen in this painting.

Regarding the decoration of the Hall of the Council of Ten, the ceiling is of interest for the gilded and carved cornices. The paintings of the ceiling, among them Venus between Mars and Neptune, were executed by Zelotti, Giambattista Ponchino and the young Veronese.

In the Hall of Olympus, Zelotti transformed the space into an evocative ruin of an ancient pagan temple. Fragment of classical statues, broken-off columns and cracks sprouting shrubbery are painted on the walls with a skilful use of chiaroscuro. On three sides of the room, high up in the patch of sky that illuminates the scene, mighty gods sit above the clouds.

The Hall of Venus is characterized by a trompe l’oeil decorative apparatus and architecture. Episodes from Ovid’s text illustrate the loves of the goddess: Venus Discourages Adonis from the Hunt and Venus Holding the Dying Adonis. Above the door is a painting depicting St Jerome Penitent.

The room dedicated to the Muses is highly theatrical. The ceiling seems to be held up by gigantic caryatids that appear on the walls. Muses with poets appear in the spaces between the caryatids, while personifications of rivers loom over the entrance doors. The contribution of Battista del Moro in the decoration of this room is suggested by recent critics.

The Villa Caldogno is the result of one of Palladio’s early projects. Its construction began in 1542, Construction of the building and the decoration of the interiors extended over a long period of time, brought to completion only in 1570. The fresco decoration was completed by Giovanni Antonio Fasolo and Giovanni Battista Zelotti.

The fresco decoration transfigures the interior spaces into a sumptuous architectural stage set. It unfolds in the loggia, the Central Hall, and two rooms on the left. The frescoes in the loggia and the Central Hall are the work of Fasolo, whereas the other two rooms, the Room of Scipio and the Room of Sofonisba, were decorated by Zelotti, with some contributions by Fasolo.

In the Room of Scipio, the principal episodes are dedicated to the celebration of the virtue of Clemency, as seen through Scipio’s actions. Within the compartments, which are separated by Corinthian columns that support the painted trabeation, Zelotti painted The Clemency of Scipio, Scipio Returning Lucius’s Betrothed, and Scipio Urged to Free the Carthaginian Hostages.

In the Room of Sofonisba, the scenes framed by Corinthian columns, narrate the tragic final events in the life of Sofonisba, queen of the Numidians. The left wall shows The Weeping Sofonisba Welcoming Massinissa; the central section has Sofonisba Imploring Massinissa; and on the right is Sofonisba Receiving Poison.

Girolamo Godi, organizer of a Vicenzan literary salon and friend of Pietro Bembo and Alvise Cornaro, engaged Gualtiero Padovano around 1550 to decorate the villa. In addition to the loggia, the decoration of four rooms in the right wing of the villa can be ascribed to Gualtiero: the Hall of the Gods or the Putto, the Hall of the Triumphs, the Hall of the Caesars, and the Hall of the Sacrifices. Gualtiero’s sudden death in 1552 prevented him from completing the work which was taken over by Giovanni Battista Zelotti, who created the frescoes in the central hall, the Hall of Olympus, the Hall of the Arts, the Room of Seasons, and the Hall of the Muses. In the latter the contribution of Battista del Moro (c. 1515-c. 1573) is assumed.

The frescoes in the Villa Godi represents the apex of Zelotti’s work, thanks to the harmonious fusion of decorative elegance, careful chromatic relationships, and the skilful use of illusionistic perspective.

In the central hall, imposing, monumental arcades with projecting trabeation, crowned by tympanums, stand out against the walls like stage sets, framing two episodes from the life of Alexander the Great. In a faux gilded frame, the allegoric scene Hercules at the Crossroads is depicted. The tall dado that runs around the room is embellished with small monochrome panels.

In the sixteenth century a large number of fresco decorations was based on well-known literary works of antiquity. In addition to Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the Latin and Greek works that frequently provided inspiration for mural paintings included Virgil’s Aeneid, Livy’s Roman history with depictions of Roman virtues, Plutarch’s Lives, Valerius Maximus’s Dicta and facta memorabilia, and Apuleius’s Golden Ass.

The scenes in the central hall in the Villa Godi are based on Plutarch’s Lives. In the central hall, imposing, monumental arcades with projecting trabeation, crowned by tympanums, stand out against the walls like stage sets, framing two episodes from the life of Alexander the Great. In an illusory windows (at left) a landscape is set for the Rape of Europe in the foreground.

The episode on the wall shown in the picture depicts Alexander the Great covering Darius’s corpse with a coat.

The trompe l’oeil architecture provides the organizational structure for the large Central Hall, where the space is measured with rhythmic linearity. White Corinthian columns illusionistically supporting the ceiling, frame famous episodes from Roman history. These are flanked by the four original elements: Earth, Water, Air, and Fire, embodied by Cybele, Neptune, Juno, and Jupiter. At the feet of the elements are the skillfully modeled bodies of four prisoners along with trophies of war.

The present picture shows the historical scene The Killing of Virginia.

The trompe l’oeil architecture provides the organizational structure for the large Central Hall, where the space is measured with rhythmic linearity. White Corinthian columns illusionistically supporting the ceiling, frame famous episodes from Roman history. These are flanked by the four original elements: Earth, Water, Air, and Fire, embodied by Cybele, Neptune, Juno, and Jupiter. At the feet of the elements are the skillfully modeled bodies of four prisoners along with trophies of war.

The present picture shows the historical scene Scipio Returning Lucius’s Betrothed.

In the sixteenth century a large number of fresco decorations was based on well-known literary works of antiquity. In addition to Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the Latin and Greek works that frequently provided inspiration for mural paintings included Virgil’s Aeneid, Livy’s Roman history with depictions of Roman virtues, Plutarch’s Lives, Valerius Maximus’s Dicta and facta memorabilia, and Apuleius’s Golden Ass.

The scene representing The Continence of Scipio in the Central Hall (Salone)is based on Valerius Maximus’s Dicta and facta memorabilia. The Villa Emo at Fanzolo was built by Palladio in the late 1550s.

The present picture shows the historical scene Scipio Returning Lucius’s Betrothed.

The present picture shows the detail of a prisoner.