1639 -1709 · Genoa, Rome and Baroque triumph

Frescoes open to the sky, portraits of immediate presence and theatrical light make Giovanni Battista Gaulli, known as the Baciccio, one of the great decorators of Baroque Rome.

Giovanni Battista Gaulli was born in Genoa in 1639. Trained in a city where the examples of Rubens, Van Dyck and Bernardo Strozzi circulated, he reached Rome still young after the plague epidemic of 1656. His talent quickly attracted the attention of Bernini, who became his protector and helped guide his career. Gaulli entered the Accademia di San Luca in 1662, then received portraits, altarpieces and large decorations for the main Roman families and institutions. His masterpiece was the ensemble painted in the Gesù church between 1672 and 1685. In The Triumph of the Name of Jesus, painting, golden stucco and real architecture abolished their borders: the elect seemed to rise into the light while let the rejected figures go beyond the frame and cast their shadows on the vault. This spectacular illusion translates into images the spiritual eloquence of the Society of Jesus and Bernini's taste for the unity of the arts. Gaulli also excels in portraiture. Popes, cardinals, artists and aristocrats are captured with a lively touch, luminous skin tones and acute attention to character. His religious paintings combine ample gestures, shortcuts, chiaroscuro and warm colors without losing the human intensity of the figures. His religious paintings combine ample gestures, shortcuts, chiaroscuro and warm colors without losing the human intensity of the figures. His religious paintings combine ample gestures, shortcuts, chiaroscuro and warm colors without losing the human intensity of the figures. In the Pietà, Mary's pain is concentrated by the proximity of the body of Christ; in the apotheoses, movement and light transform the saint in vision. Died in Rome in 1709, the Baciccio leaves a decisive work for European monumental decoration and for the baroque fusion of painting, sculpture and space. The "Giovanni Battista Gaulli" selection notably compares La Pietà, Mary mourning the dead Christ and Virgin and Child piercing the head of the serpent. His reading favors composition.

Gaulli does not decorate the vault: he makes it disappear, then replaces the architecture with a light where the figures rise, fall and overflow.