Thursday, February 21, 2019

Pietro della Vecchia (1602 or 1603-ca. 1676) - Venice

Pietro della Vecchia
Fortune Teller reading a Soldier's Palm
ca. 1640
oil on canvas
College of Optometrists, London

Pietro della Vecchia
Fortune Teller reading a Soldier's Palm
before 1676
oil on canvas
Wellcome Collection, London

Pietro della Vecchia
Soldier drawing a Sword
ca. 1640
oil on panel
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

"Pietro della Vecchia (also sometimes called Pietro Mutoni) was born in 1602 or 1603, probably in Venice.  His father, Gasparo, was a painter registered with the Venetian guild, yet the younger Vecchia probably received his initial training from Alessandro Varotari, known as Padovanino.  Varotari was the leading painter of the first half of the seventeenth century in Venice, and his style attempted to recapture the classicism of Titian's early  manner.  Varotari had a large and successful school, and he was compared by the eighteenth-century historian Luigi Lanzi to the Carracci for the diversity and excellence obtained by his students.  Varotari's pedagogy may have served as an inspiration to Vecchia, who later ran his own academy and was one of the founding members of the Collegio de Pittori, a precursor to the Venetian Academy created in 1752."

"In the 1630s, Vecchia became the preeminent religious painter of Venice, leading to his commission in 1640 for designs for new mosaic for the Basilica of Saint Mark, and to the title of Ducal Painter.  Vecchia achieved this recognition as a result of his ability in the monumental manner of Venetian history painting, as established by the great masters of the sixteenth century, especially Titian.  This knowledge also served Vecchia in his capacity as a restorer, and confidence in him was so great that he was called upon to restore Giorgione's Castelfranco altarpiece in 1643-1645."

"Vecchia's affection for and knowledge of Venetian sixteenth-century painting is evident not only in his original paintings and his restorations, but also in his capricious imitations of old masters, especially Giorgione and Titian.  These were not simply copies or forgers in the modern sense, but rather feats of virtuosity designed to appeal to sophisticated connoisseurs.  These imitations are recognizable for what may now seem exaggerations of the manners of their models, but this was perhaps less evident at the time they were painted." 

– excerpts from the artist's biography in the Systematic Catalogue of the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Pietro della Vecchia
Death of Archimedes
before 1676
oil on panel
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux

Pietro della Vecchia
Imaginary Self-portrait of Titian
ca. 1650-60
oil on canvas
private collection

Pietro della Vecchia
Doubting Thomas
ca. 1670
oil on canvas
Palazzo Thiene, Vicenza

Pietro della Vecchia
Christ at the Column
ca. 1640-60
oil on canvas
Galleria Estense, Modena

Pietro della Vecchia
Martyrdom of St Sebastian
1654
oil on canvas
Pinacoteca Civica, Treviso

Pietro della Vecchia
St Sebastian
ca. 1654
oil on canvas
private collection

attributed to Pietro della Vecchia
Mocking of Christ
before 1676
drawing
Royal Collection, Great Britain

Pietro della Vecchia
Half-length Figure-study 
ca. 1643-63
drawing
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Pietro della Vecchia
The Philosopher
ca. 1640-60
oil on canvas
Galleria Estense, Modena

Pietro della Vecchia
Jupiter and Semele
ca. 1650-60
oil on canvas
private collection

Pietro della Vecchia
Selene
ca. 1629
oil on canvas
National Trust, Kingston Lacy, Dorset

Pietro della Vecchia
Neptune
ca. 1650
oil on canvas
Musée des Augustins de Toulouse