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| Filippo Gherardi and Giovanni Coli History of the Battle of Lepanto 1675-78 fresco Palazzo Colonna, Rome |
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| Filippo Gherardi and Giovanni Coli History of the Battle of Lepanto 1675-78 fresco Palazzo Colonna, Rome |
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| Filippo Gherardi and Giovanni Coli History of the Battle of Lepanto 1675-78 fresco Palazzo Colonna, Rome |
"Both Giovanni Coli and Filippo Gherardi were born in Lucca, Coli in 1636 and Gherardi in 1643. Both artists studied together under Pietro Paolino and in the 1650s they traveled together to Rome where they established an artistic relationship with Pietro da Cortona (or at least with his circle). In the mid-1660s they went to Venice where they were greatly inspired by the works of Paolo Veronese and his tradition. "Concordissimi come di animo, così di stile," as Luigi Lanzi has expressed it, the two artists always worked together. In 1669 they returned to Rome where they were assigned a number of important commissions, . . . especially the gigantic ceiling of the main salon of the Palazzo Colonna, which was their most important work (1675-1678)."
– Hermann Voss, from Baroque Painting in Rome (1925), revised and translated by Thomas Pelzel (San Francisco: Alan Wofsy, 1997)
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| Filippo Gherardi and Giovanni Coli History of the Battle of Lepanto 1675-78 fresco Palazzo Colonna, Rome |
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| Filippo Gherardi and Giovanni Coli History of the Battle of Lepanto 1675-78 fresco Palazzo Colonna, Rome |
"The gigantic ceiling fresco on the low vaulting of the Grand Gallery of the Palazzo Colonna is one of the most important achievements of the later Seicento in its field. The central field [below] depicts the Battle of Lepanto in the form of a half-allegorical apotheosis commemorating the victory, in which Marcantonio II of the House of Colonna is the chief hero. . . . The decorative arrangement of the ceiling is of the greatest imaginable richness; in the boldness of color it goes far beyond Cortona, though Cortona's familiar motifs are adapted, but loosened toward a lighter, more joyful and playful manner. A distinctive feature on the part of Coli and Gherardi, one which must have attracted considerable attention in Rome, was the use of brightly striped banners as a decorative motif. Also novel and worthy of notice is the tendency toward cheerful, light and bright coloration, which seems to foreshadow the Venetian Settecento, particularly Tiepolo."
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| Filippo Gherardi and Giovanni Coli History of the Battle of Lepanto 1675-78 fresco Palazzo Colonna, Rome |
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| Filippo Gherardi and Giovanni Coli History of the Battle of Lepanto 1675-78 fresco Palazzo Colonna, Rome |
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| Filippo Gherardi and Giovanni Coli History of the Battle of Lepanto 1675-78 fresco Palazzo Colonna, Rome |
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| Filippo Gherardi and Giovanni Coli History of the Battle of Lepanto 1675-78 fresco Palazzo Colonna, Rome |
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| Filippo Gherardi and Giovanni Coli History of the Battle of Lepanto 1675-78 fresco Palazzo Colonna, Rome |
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| Filippo Gherardi and Giovanni Coli History of the Battle of Lepanto 1675-78 fresco Palazzo Colonna, Rome |
"Summoned back to their native Lucca toward the end of the 1670s, Coli and Gherardi undertook the painting of the apse of the cathedral; this was begun, as usual, as a joint enterprise, but was finished by Gherardi, Coli having died in 1681. It depicts the Virgin introducing the patron saint of Lucca to the Holy Trinity [below]. The later career of Gherardi, who died in 1704, is of lesser importance."
– Hermann Voss, from Baroque Painting in Rome (1925), revised and translated by Thomas Pelzel (San Francisco: Alan Wofsy, 1997)
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| Filippo Gherardi and Giovanni Coli Gloria di San Regolo 1681 fresco (installation view) Duomo di Lucca |
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| Filippo Gherardi and Giovanni Coli Gloria di San Regolo 1681 fresco Duomo di Lucca |
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| Filippo Gherardi and Giovanni Coli Gloria di San Regolo 1681 fresco (detail, lower center) Duomo di Lucca |
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| Filippo Gherardi and Giovanni Coli Gloria di San Regolo 1681 fresco (detail, lower left) Duomo di Lucca |
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| Filippo Gherardi and Giovanni Coli Gloria di San Regolo 1681 fresco (detail, lower right) Duomo di Lucca |