Giovanni Battista Piazzetta – Two Popes
date:
measurements: výška 50.9 cm, šírka 45.1 cm
work type: painting
object type: easel painting
genre: historický motív
material: canvas
technique: oil
inscription:
institution: Slovenská národná galéria, SNG
inventory number: O 6300
tags: muž svätec
in collections:
licence: Creative Commons License public domain
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Two monumentally impressive portraits of popes are recorded in this cabinet format painting. Two figures dominate the whole scene; their gazes are directed towards the viewer. Their mutual relations are found in papal tiaras placed next to their feet. They are situated in a cloudy, nondescript environment. 

The attribution to Piazzetta is based on an anonymous tradition. However no references to the painting have ever been published. Piazzetti’s workshop offered genre paintings, devotional paintings with half figures of the saints, a series
of decorative paintings and large formats with religious scenes. This painting is probably the product of his workshop. 

However, the limiting but unclearly defined space and the isolated, heavy, block-like figures are characteristic of a different master, Giuseppe Angeli (1712–1798). In many respects, Angeli was dependent on Piazzetti’s work, but he used colder tones and was also able to react to other contemporaries, such as Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696–1770) and Jacopo Amigoni (1682–1752). 

Like his colleagues, Angeli was careful and less innovative with official and prestigious commissions. He frequently returned to earlier adaptations of historical and mythological scenes. 

Zuzana Ludiková ● LUDIKOVÁ, Zuzana - BURAN, Dušan. Talianska maľba = Italian Painting. Bratislava : Slovenská národná galéria, 2013. 242 strán. ISBN 9788080591748.

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