Saturday, May 4, 2019

Pietro Berrettini, called Pietro da Cortona (1597-1669) - III

Pietro da Cortona
Oath of Semiramis
before 1669
oil on copper
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Pietro da Cortona
St Cecilia
ca. 1620-25
oil on canvas
National Gallery, London

Pietro da Cortona
St Constantia's Vision before the Tomb of St Agnes and St Emerentiana
ca. 1654
oil on canvas
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Pietro da Cortona
Self-portrait
ca. 1635-40
oil on canvas
Musée Fesch, Ajaccio, Corsica

"The description of his character by Pascoli, who cannot have known him but was clearly well informed, suggests that Cortona moved gently through the occasionally quarrelsome artistic world of Rome, avoiding the limelight:  Piero was tall and impressive in his carriage, well built and with good features, but bald and somewhat dry.  He was friendly and charming, in conversation, but cautious and wary when he spoke of himself.  He was quick in his answers and never obstinate in pressing his ideas.  By nature he loved work, but he was not averse to conversation.  . . .  He knew good fortune, and it never changed either his nature or his habits – a thing rare in men who attain success.  Having praised his piety and generosity to the poor, carried out in secret, F.S. Baldinucci states:  All these good works were accompanied by that deep respect and esteem which he received from everyone during his life: in fact he was dear to everyone and loved and revered by people of all kinds, particularly for his conversation, which on account of its decency and charm was always agreeable and delightful.  In the second version of his life of Cortona, however, Baldinucci recorded various examples of Cortona's violent temper, sometimes against a pupil who had misbehaved, sometimes against a friend who tried to reduce the price agreed for a painting.  In each case the provocation seems to have been considerable.  Pascoli details a particularly unpleasant episode in Cortona's studio when the young Pietro Testa challenged his master's authority and was embarrassingly rebuked by him.  It seems that some other pupils who worked with him during the 1630s  Giacinto Gimignani, Giovanni Francesco Romanelli and perhaps Giovanni Maria Botalla  also left his studio on unfriendly terms."

Jörg Martin Merz, from Pietro da Cortona and Roman Baroque Architecture (Yale University Press, 2008)

Pietro da Cortona
Earthquake in an Artist's Studio
ca. 1660
drawing
Art Institute of Chicago

follower of Pietro da Cortona
Dancer with Cymbals
ca. 1640
drawing
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

follower of Pietro da Cortona
Half-figure of Hercules
ca. 1630-60
drawing
Princeton University Art Museum

follower of Pietro da Cortona
Head and Shoulders of a Woman
ca. 1630-60
drawing
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts

follower of Pietro da Cortona
Figure-study
ca.1630-60
drawing
Minneapolis Institute of Art

follower of Pietro da Cortona
Weapon-maker with Cherub
ca. 1630-60
drawing
Teylers Museum, Haarlem

Pietro da Cortona
Adoration of Christ Crucified
1627
watercolor and gouache
Palazzo Barberini, Rome

Pietro da Cortona
Portrait of Pope Urban VIII Barberini
ca. 1624-26
oil on canvas
Pinacoteca Capitolina, Rome

Pietro da Cortona
St Peter Damian offering the Rules of the Camaldolese Order to the Virgin
ca. 1629-30
oil on canvas
Toledo Museum of Art (Ohio)

Pietro da Cortona
St Martina refuses to adore the Idols
ca. 1654-60
oil on canvas
Princeton University Art Museum