Giovanni Maria Morandi Rest on the Flight into Egypt ca. 1680-90 oil on canvas private collection |
Giovanni Maria Morandi Pope Alexander VII borne aloft in Corpus Christi Procession ca. 1655-65 oil on canvas Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nancy |
Giovanni Maria Morandi The Three Marys at the Sepulchre before 1717 oil on canvas Museo del Prado, Madrid |
"Born in Florence in 1622, Giovanni Maria Morandi received his first training under Giovanni Biliverti, but at an early date he visited Rome and northern Italy, especially Venice, an experience which made him totally forget his early schooling. Morandi, whose artistic career commenced at a rather late date, had the qualities of an accomplished cavalier and man of the world, which enabled him to ingratiate himself among the Roman nobility. . . . He was recommended as a portraitist to the Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold I in the 1660s and for a time was active at the court in Vienna. Summoned by Pope Clement IX about 1668 he returned to Rome. . . . Among the Roman painters of the later Seicento, Morandi was one of the most moderate in his taste. His manner is as distant from that of the adherents of Pietro da Cortona and the followers of Giovanni Battista Gaulli as it is from the cold and empty manner of many of the imitators of Carlo Maratti. His color is generally luminous and deep; brownish-red and purple-red tonalities predominate. A certain weakness in his draftsmanship and modeling strike one at times as unpleasant; and yet the majority of his paintings are tasteful and elegant. He was of little importance with respect to the further resolution of the major problems of painting; he lacked any drive toward new and unusual effects."
– Hermann Voss, from Baroque Painting in Rome (1925), revised and translated by Thomas Pelzel (San Francisco: Alan Wofsy, 1997)
Giovanni Maria Morandi Portrait of Holy Roman Empress Claudia Felicitas as Diana 1666 oil on canvas Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
Giovanni Maria Morandi Portrait of Anna de' Medici, Archduchess of Austria, mother of the Holy Roman Empress Claudia Felicitas 1666 oil on canvas Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
Giovanni Maria Morandi Portrait of Sigismund Franz of Tyrol, Archduke of Austria before 1665 oil on canvas Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
Giovanni Maria Morandi Portrait of Niccolò Simonelli in his Cabinet of Curiosities ca. 1660 oil on canvas private collection |
Giovanni Maria Morandi Profile Sketch of Pope Innocent X ca. 1644-55 drawing Morgan Library, New York |
Giovanni Maria Morandi Member of a Religious Order ransoming Christian Slaves from the Turks ca. 1650-1700 drawing Musée du Louvre |
after Giovanni Maria Morandi Annunciation ca. 1710 etching and chiaroscuro woodcut by Anne-Claude de Caylus and Nicolas Le Sueur Teylers Museum, Haarlem |
Giovanni Maria Morandi The Visitation 1659 oil on canvas Basilica di Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome |
Giovanni Maria Morandi Study for Boreas abducting Orithyia 1640 drawing Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf |
Giovanni Maria Morandi Study for Boreas abducting Orithyia 1640 drawing Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf |