19th Century Head of St. Peter Painting Oil on Canvas by Follower of Piazzetta
By Giovanni Battista Piazzetta
Located in Milan, IT
Follower of Giambattista Valentino Piazzetta (Venice, 1682 - there, 1754)
Head of St. Peter
Oil on canvas applied on cardboard, 36.5 x 34.5 cm
With frame 42.5 x 41 cm
The claves Regni Coelorum, an essential Petrine attribute, shyly peek out in this painting, with the sole purpose of allowing the character to be recognized. The wholeness of attention is indeed conveyed to the Saint, from aching humanity and divine inspiration. Pietro is rendered with a liquid epidermis, illuminated by a pearly light that slips and drips to define the overbearing nose, cheekbones and browbone; while the vitreous humor of the eye turns bright to the sky, to investigate the highest wills of the divine mystery.
The portrait, rendered here in intense monochrome, denounces the direct dependence of the present artist on the suggestions of Giambattista (Valentino) Piazzetta, one of the greatest among the eighteenth-century Venetian masters. Following an immature apprenticeship in the field of wood carving with his father Jacopo, a sculptor from Pederobba, in the Treviso area, Piazzetta retired to the workshop of Antonio Molinari...
Category
Antique 19th Century Italian Paintings