1708 -1787 · Lucca and Rome

Classical elegance, Grand Tour portraits and luminous religious painting make Pompeo Batoni one of the masters of 18th-century Rome.

Pompeo Girolamo Batoni was born in Lucca in 1708 and died in Rome in 1787. First trained in goldsmithing with his father Paolino, he settled permanently in Rome in 1727. He copied the antiques, Raphael, the Carracci and the great Roman decorations, forging a way where firm drawing, polished flesh and light color respond to the classical ideal. His first religious and mythological commissions quickly brought him an international reputation. His first religious and mythological commissions quickly brought him an international reputation. From the 1750s, Batoni became the preferred portraitist for British, Irish, German and European travelers completing the Grand Tour. He represents them among statues, columns, maps and landscapes which attest to their culture and their stay in Rome. This worldly elegance should not mask the strength of his sacred painting. The Holy Family orders tender gestures and draperies with Raphaelesque clarity. The Virgin of the Annunciation suspends the story in a collected expression, while The Crucifixion combines anatomy, pain and light. Rest during the flight into Egypt transforms the biblical stopover into an intimate and harmonious scene. Batoni runs a very active workshop, responds to European courts and works for the popes. Rest during the flight to Egypt transforms the biblical stopover into an intimate and harmonious scene. Batoni runs a very active workshop, responds to European courts and works for the popes. Rest during the flight to Egypt transforms the biblical stopover into an intimate and harmonious scene. Batoni runs a very active workshop, responds to European courts and works for the popes. Rest during the flight to Egypt transforms the biblical stopover into an intimate and harmonious scene. Batoni runs a very active workshop, responds to European courts and works for the popes. His work, widely disseminated through engraving, unites late Baroque tradition with the new neoclassical taste and lastingly fixes the social image of the traveler cultivated. The "Pompeo Batoni" selection notably compares The Holy Family and The Virgin of the Annunciation. Its reading favors the story.

Batoni gives Rome a modern face: antiquity ennobles the portrait, Raphael orders the sacred and light transforms elegance into presence.