1687 -1767 · Venice and European rococo

Elegant compositions, pearly colors and moving religious stories make Giovanni Battista Pittoni one of the most sought-after Venetian painters of the 18th century.

Giovanni Battista Pittoni was born in Venice in 1687 and trained with his uncle Francesco Pittoni. His first works assimilated Luca Giordano, Sebastiano Ricci and Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, then developed a clearer, elegant and personal way. From the 1720s, Pittoni became one of the main history painters of Venice. He dealt with biblical subjects, lives of saints, mythology and allegory for churches, palaces and a vast European clientele. His compositions are skillfully balanced: staircases, columns, diagonals and groups of figures give the story the scale of a theater scene, while the gestures remain precise and readable. Colors - blues, pinks, silvery whites and yellows - lighten with maturity. The soft draperies and pearly light attenuate the seriousness of the episodes without making them superficial. In the Annunciation, the encounter is constructed by the angel's impulse and the withdrawal of Mary; in the Adorations, the abundance of figures remains organized around the Child. Pittoni works for Italy, Germany, Austria, Poland and Russia, often through transportable paintings or models. He collaborated with architects and decorators and produced numerous preparatory drawings. A central figure in Venetian institutions, he participated in the founding of the Academy in 1756 of the fine arts of Venice and became president in 1758 then in 1763. Died in 1767, he represents an essential path of Venetian rococo, between the dark vigor of Piazzetta and the luminous expansion of Tiepolo. The "Giovanni Battista Pittoni" selection notably compares The Adoration of the Magi and The Annunciation. His reading favors drawing.

Pittoni transforms the story into clear theater: architecture, gesture and color drive the eye without sacrificing the emotion of the sacred moment.