Saint Francis of Paula

Chamber devotional paintings are closely related despite their different painting styles because they were painted according to templates that originated from the same cycle. One of the paintings shows the Holy Trinity in which a triangular halo, a globe and a cross are located behind the Almighty; this represents the empire of God and Christianity. The second depicts Saint Francis of Paola, who chose the life of a hermit, gained recognition as a miraculous healer, and together with his followers founded a community of hermits and the order of Minims who took vows of chastity, poverty, obedience, along with eternal fasting.

In 1742, Venetian graphic artist Marco Alvise Pitteri (1702–1786) received the privilege of publishing fifteen heads which are interpreted as the graphic cycle dedicated to the portraits of the twelve apostles, God the Father, Christ and the Virgin Mary. Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, another Venetian, is listed as the artist of the published graphic works. The edition was a success and was later superimposed several times with the addition of other figures.

Piazzetta’s templates are assumed to have existed, but they have been lost. However, his relation to Pitteri’s cycle is considered in connection to some of his works. According to one opinion, the painting recorded in the estate of M. Pierre
Rosenberg in New York7 served as the template for the graphic work of God the Father. An identical drawing of God the Father, which is part of another private collection in New York, is also considered to be the work of Piazzetto.

The success of Piazzetto’s implementations of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary which are in Frankfurt and Zbraslav, where a portrait identical to the depiction of Saint Thaddeus appears, and which is also considered as Piazzetta’s crypto portrait, could have been the impetus for the joint venture.

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