Niccolò Berrettoni Holy Family with St John the Baptist and St Elizabeth before 1682 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
Niccolò Berrettoni Allegory of the Seasons 1670 fresco Stanza dell' Estate, Villa Falconieri, Frascati |
Niccolò Berrettoni Virgin Annunciate before 1687 oil on canvas private collection |
"Berrettoni was born in 1637 in Macerata di Montefeltre (near Urbino). Beginning in the 1650s he was in Rome and active in the studio of Carlo Maratti, who soon recognized his extraordinary talent and (according to Berrettoni's biographer, Pascoli) was so jealous that he attempted to suppress his advancement. Despite that, Berrettoni's earliest Roman works, depictions of Sacred and Profane Love, attracted the attention of connoisseurs. . . . In the competition for the ceiling frescoes in the nave of S. Silvestro in Capite, preference was given to Giacinto Brandi (on the recommendation of Maratti, according to Pascoli), although Berrettoni's design had been better received. Berrettoni's disappointment is supposed to have given rise to a physical malady that progressed rapidly to his death in 1682. . . . His work, compared to that of his master, has a certain quality of cheerfulness and lightheartedness that at times can reach the level of festive exuberance. His color is florid with a certain degree of succulence; his use of line is sweeping and energetic. Berrettoni's art, which is conspicuous in the best sense of the term, makes one regret his early demise."
– Hermann Voss, from Baroque Painting in Rome (1925), revised and translated by Thomas Pelzel (San Francisco: Alan Wofsy, 1997)
Niccolò Berrettoni Study for the head of Mary Magdalene before 1682 drawing Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
Niccolò Berrettoni Holy Family with St John the Baptist before 1682 oil on canvas National Trust, Belton House, Grantham, Lincolnshire |
Niccolò Berrettoni Holy Family with St Anne, reading a Psalm 1679 drawing Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf |
Niccolò Berrettoni Virgin and Child with St John the Baptist, St Dominic and St Francis before 1682 oil on copper private collection |
Niccolò Berrettoni Virgin and Child appearing to a Bishop Saint before 1682 drawing private collection |
Niccolò Berrettoni Virgin and Child with St John the Baptist before 1682 drawing British Museum |
Niccolò Berrettoni Birth of Venus, with Neptune, Cybele, and the Chariot of the Sun ca. 1670-80 drawing Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
Niccolò Berrettoni Venus lamenting the Death of Adonis before 1682 drawing Victoria & Albert Museum |
Niccolò Berrettoni Hercules at the Crossroads before 1682 drawing Art Institute of Chicago |
Niccolò Berrettoni Ananias curing Saul's Blindness before 1682 oil on canvas private collection |
attributed to Niccolò Berrettoni Infant Christ holding a Cross ca. 1670-80 oil on canvas Royal Collection, Great Britain |