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| Giovanni Ghisolfi Architectural Capriccio with Conversing Figures, a Round Dance beyond before 1683 oil on canvas private collection |
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| Giovanni Ghisolfi Architectural Capriccio with Statue of Mercury before 1683 oil on canvas private collection |
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| Giovanni Ghisolfi Triumph of Silenus before 1683 oil on canvas Musée d'art et d'histoire de Narbonne |
"Born about 1623 in Milan, Ghisolfi learned perspectival painting from his uncle, Paolo Antonio Volpini, and then settled in Rome in 1650 in order to study the ruins of the ancient city. There, in the mid-1650s, he was in close contact with Salvator Rosa, both personally and artistically, as is evident from a letter of Rosa to his friend Ricciardi. Ghisolfi was an excellent painter of architecture and specialized entirely in the depiction of ancient ruins, and in this field he was in his own time considered to be unequalled. At first he was unfamiliar with the art of enlivening his landscapes with characteristic staffage figures and was indebted to Rosa for his instruction in this technique and, at times, for his friendly collaboration. Ghisolfi's chief talent lay in a pleasing arrangement of ruin coulisses, cleverly suggestive of depth, and founded upon the most exact familiarity with the laws of architecture and perspective. A certain dry sobriety pervades his handling of paint. Now and again, however, there is evidence of an attempt at sunnier and more atmospheric effects, and in this respect Ghisolfi seems to anticipate his far greater follower, Giovanni Panini. In his later years Ghisolfi suffered from declining eyesight and, after a long period of wandering (he was active in Naples, Venice, and Genoa, as well as in Rome), he returned to Milan, where he died in 1683."
– Hermann Voss, from Baroque Painting in Rome (1925), revised and translated by Thomas Pelzel (San Francisco: Alan Wofsy, 1997)
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| Giovanni Ghisolfi Ruins and Figures before 1683 oil on canvas University of Edinburgh |
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| Giovanni Ghisolfi Architectural Composition before 1683 oil on canvas University of Edinburgh |
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| Giovanni Ghisolfi Capriccio of Roman Ruins by the Sea, with Preparations for a Sacrifice ca. 1660-80 oil on canvas National Trust Collections, London |
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| Giovanni Ghisolfi Capriccio before 1683 oil on canvas Beecroft Museum, Southend |
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| Giovanni Ghisolfi Classical Ruin with Soldiers and Figures before 1683 oil on canvas National Trust, The Vyne, Basingstoke |
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| Giovanni Ghisolfi Alexander the Great and Thalestris before 1683 oil on canvas private collection |
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| Giovanni Ghisolfi Abraham and Melchizedek before 1683 oil on canvas National Museum of Art of Romania, Bucharest |
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| attributed to Giovanni Ghisolfi Christ giving the Keys to St Peter ca. 1655-80 oil on canvas Glasgow Museums |
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| Giovanni Ghisolfi Bozzetto for St Peter healing the Lame Man before 1683 oil on canvas private collection |
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| Giovanni Ghisolfi Bozzetto for St Peter freed from Prison by an Angel before 1683 oil on canvas private collection |
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| Pietro Monaco after a painting by Giovanni Ghisolfi Jephthah's Daughter kneeling by the Sacrificial Altar ca. 1730-50 etching and engraving British Museum |