Major Masterpieces: Mattia Preti to Paul Gauguin

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Giovanni Ghisolfi
(Milano, 1623 - Milano, 1683)

Architectural caprice, 17th century

Oil painting on canvas
cm 130X94
"Giovanni Ghisolfi, son of the Piacenza architect Giuseppe, studied painting in Milan with the Lombard Girolamo Chignoli. In 1649, he was entrusted with the important task of collaborating in the creation of installations, triumphal arches, and pictorial decorations for the reception of Archduchess Marianna of Austria during her visit to the city. In 1650, his presence in Rome was documented, where he was engaged in studying ancient architecture and reproducing architectural fragments, possibly in the company of his painter friend Antonio Busca. According to the account of biographer and art historian Filippo Baldinucci, Ghisolfi stayed in Rome for a long time and learned to "paint figures" and create architectural perspectives, finding himself close with the more experienced Neapolitan Salvator Rosa. In 1659, he had certainly already returned to Milan. In fact, the fresco decoration of the third chapel to the right of the Certosa di Pavia, executed in 1661, is his first documented work in Lombardy after a fruitful stay in Rome, while in the following years, he was also active in the Veneto. In the last years of his life, Orlandi tells us that he suffered from physical decay and blindness. He died in Milan in 1683 and was buried in the church of S. Giovanni in Conca. The work in question reproduces a glimpse of classical ruins, attributable to his formative Roman experience, and expresses a solid architectural structure: the figures, with a few measured gestures, are dressed in drapes, caps, and shoes, details of clothing that also seem from the repertoire of Salvator Rosa, while the scene is presented with severe composure. In fact, the classicism that emerges from his paintings, rendered through linear compositions, light colors, diffused light, and solid architectural setting, makes Giovanni Ghisolfi a forerunner of 18th century landscape painting and a pacesetter of new expressive trends. Some of the landscapes, views, and perspectives created during this period will constitute a fundamental model of inspiration for the more celebrated Emilian Giovanni Paolo Pannini."
€ 16.000,00
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