Friday, April 12, 2019

Pompeo Batoni (1708-1787) - Rome- III

Pompeo Batoni
Esther before Ahasuerus
ca. 1738-40
oil on canvas
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Pompeo Batoni
Susanna and the Elders
1751
oil on canvas
private collection

Pompeo Batoni
Return of the Prodigal Son
1773
oil on canvas
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Pompeo Batoni after Guido Reni
Salome with the Head of John the Baptist
ca. 1740-62
oil on canvas
National Trust, Stourhead, Wiltshire

Pompeo Batoni
Rest on the Flight into Egypt
ca. 1740-49
oil on canvas
Dundee Art Galleries and Museums

"In terms of his originality in solving the challenges of monumental painting, Batoni remains decidedly inferior not only to Carlo Maratti, but also to his rival, Anton Raphael Mengs.  There is in fact no Sacra Conversazione, no biblical history or the like, in which he displays a surprising compositional invention or an ingenious reworking of any of the traditional schemes.  It is characteristic of Batoni that he was perhaps the only major Roman master of the 17th or 18th century who never once tried his hand at fresco painting.  A  major part of the impact of his large paintings for churches lies in his tasteful use of painterly and luminescent techniques.  This is not to say that he had the same natural instinct for chiaroscuro and tonality displayed by the great masters of northern Italy; his nocturnal scenes and his Glorias appear to be no more than pale imitations of Correggio or similar models.  And yet in his manner of draftsmanship he devoted much love and penetrating observation to reproducing the effects of light and shadow.  He always shows the finest understanding in the counterbalancing of light and shadow and the inter-play of transitional and intermediate tonalities in which painterly delectation is combined with the assured craftsmanship of the trained miniaturist." 

– Hermann Voss, from Baroque Painting in Rome (1925), revised and translated by Thomas Pelzel (San Francisco: Alan Wofsy, 1997)

Pompeo Batoni
Madonna Annunciata
ca. 1741-42
oil on canvas
Musée du Louvre

Pompeo Batoni
God the Father and the Holy Spirit
ca. 1740-43
oil on canvas
National Trust, Basildon Park, Berkshire

Pompeo Batoni
Virgin Mary
1741
oil on canvas
private collection

Pompeo Batoni
Crucifixion
1762
oil on canvas
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Pompeo Batoni
St Thomas
ca. 1740-43
oil on canvas
National Trust, Basildon Park, Berkshire

Pompeo Batoni
St John the Evangelist
ca. 1740-43
oil on canvas
National Trust, Basildon Park, Berkshire

Pompeo Batoni
St Paul
ca. 1740-43
oil on canvas
National Trust, Basildon Park, Berkshire

Pompeo Batoni
St Peter
ca. 1740-43
oil on canvas
National Trust, Basildon Park, Berkshire

Pompeo Batoni
St Matthew
ca. 1740-43
oil on canvas
National Trust, Basildon Park, Berkshire

Pompeo Batoni
St James the Less
ca. 1740-43
oil on canvas
National Trust, Basildon Park, Berkshire