Monday, October 23, 2017

Sketchbooks of Felice Giani (1758-1823)

Felice Giani
 Self-portrait
before 1823
drawing
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Felice Giani (1758-1823) strongly supported Napoleon's conquest of Europe and flourished under his Empire.  According to a profile provided by the Getty, "his team of artists and craftsmen decorated palaces and public buildings throughout Italy, including Rome, Venice, and Faenza.  Sumptuous and richly colored, Giani's distinctive Neoclassical style combined a wealth of antique ornament with wall and ceiling paintings depicting subjects from ancient Greece and Rome . . . he absorbed influences ranging from ancient Greek and Roman art to Michelangelo's and Raphael's Renaissance classicism and the Romantic classicism of contemporaries such as Johann Heinrich Fuseli.  . . .  Participating in revolutionary and pro-French causes brought Giani commissions and honors.  He collaborated on decorations for Napoleon's triumphal entry into Bologna in 1805.  From 1812 to 1813 he worked in France at Napoleon's request, decorating rooms in the Palais de Tuileries and the Château Malmaison.  In 1811 he entered the Roman Accademia di San Luca, and in 1819 he was elected to the Congregation of the Virtuosi of the Pantheon." 


Felice Giani
Design for wall decoration, Pompeian Room, Palazzo Altieri, Rome
1792
drawing, watercolor
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Felice Giani
Sketchbook leaf with copies of four paintings
Upper left - Holy Family with St Catherine after Francesco Albano
Upper right - St John the Baptist after Guercino
Lower left - St George and the Dragon after Alessandro Tiriani
Lower right - Angels with lilies after Alessandro Tiriani

1821-22
drawing
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Felice Giani
Above - Putti making music after Lodovico Carracci
Below - Entombment after Lucio Massari

ca. 1820-21
drawing
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Felice Giani
Study after Dosso Dossi - St George and the Dragon
 ca. 1821-22
drawing
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Felice Giani
Study after Lodovico Carracci - Madonna and Child
1815
drawing
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Felice Giani
Study after Lodovico Carracci - St Anthony and the Hermits
1809-1818
drawing
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Felice Giani
Studies after Carracci frescoes - Four Herms
ca. 1821-22
drawing
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Felice Giani
Studies after Carracci frescoes - Three Herms
ca. 1821-22
drawing
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Felice Giani
Study after Peter Paul Rubens - Four figures on clouds
ca. 1813-18
drawing
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Felice Giani
Study after Peter Paul Rubens - Two Lion-heads
ca. 1813-18
drawing
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum


Felice Giani
Study of four statues by Michelangelo on the Tomb of Pope Julius II
ca. 1821-22
drawing
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Felice Giani
Study after Giulio Romano and Raphael - Godfrey de Bouillon
ca. 1820
drawing
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Felice Giani
Study after Raphael - Group with Petrarch and Sappho from Parnassus fresco
ca. 1820
drawing
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Felice Giani
Artist drawing by lamplight
ca. 1800-1820
drawing
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum