Giambattista Piazzetta

During his own lifetime, the eighteenth century Venetian painter Giambattista Piazzetta’s reputation far exceeded the borders of his birthplace. While he executed some of the most important altarpieces of Venice such as the Virgin and Child Appearing to S. Filippo Neri for Santa Maria della Fava, he also painted genre scenes, probably inspired by the work of Giuseppe Maria Crespi, whose Bologna workshop he attended around 1704. In addition to his paintings Piazetta made naturalistic portrait drawings and expressive head studies executed in black and white chalk that were highly sought after by collectors. A remarkable draughtsman, Piazzetta also created a number of designs used for book illustrations such as Torquato Tasso’s Jerusalem Delivered.