Giovanni Baglione - Wikipedia Giovanni Baglione From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search This article is about the author. For list of artists featured in the The Lives..., see Artists in biographies by Giovanni Baglione. Giovanni Baglione Engraving by Ottavio Leoni, 1625 Born 1566 Rome Died 30 December 1643 (age 77) Rome Nationality Italian Known for Painter and biographer of artists Movement Late Mannerist, Baroque Drawing of Saint Catherine, Carried up to Heaven by Angels, c. 1625 Giovanni Baglione (1566 – 30 December 1643) was an Italian Late Mannerist and Early Baroque painter and art historian. He is best remembered for his acrimonious and damaging involvement with the slightly younger artist Caravaggio and his important collection of biographies of the other artists working in Rome in his lifetime, although there are many works of his in Roman churches and galleries and elsewhere. Contents 1 Life 2 Writings 3 Litigation against Caravaggio 4 Paintings 5 Gallery 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References 9 Further reading 10 External links Life[edit] He was born and died in Rome, but from his own account came from a noble family of Perugia. A pupil of the obscure Florentine artist working in Rome, Francesco Morelli (not to be confused with the later French-Italian engraver Francesco Morelli), he worked mainly in Rome, initially with a late-Mannerist style influenced by Giuseppe Cesari (or the "Cavaliere d'Arpino"). After an intermezzo Caravaggesco when he was heavily influenced by the young Caravaggio in the early years of the new century, and a Bolognese-influenced phase in the 1610s, Baglione's final style became more generalized and typical of Roman Early Baroque painters such as Guercino, though always reflecting his training in the Central Italian tradition of disegno, the absence of which he criticized in the Caravaggisti. To Rudolf Wittkower, his style "vacillated between progressive trends, without absorbing them fully".[1] He spent 1621–1622 in Mantua as the court artist of Duke Ferdinando Gonzaga, where the exposure to the fabulous Gonzaga collection of Venetian paintings influenced his style.[2] Otherwise he remained in Rome, where he was long successful in attracting commissions from the Papal court and aristocracy. His paintings have been described by the art historian Steven F. Ostrow as "extraordinarily uneven, at best, competent, and his work pales in comparison with that of many of the contemporary artists he emulated", while his "chalk and pen and ink drawings reveal a force and lyricism rarely found in his paintings".[3] The quality of his work declined sharply in the 1630s, by which time he was in his late sixties.[4] He had a successful career, receiving a Papal knighthood in the Supreme Order of Christ (the highest of the Papal orders) in 1606, and his long involvement with Rome's Accademia di San Luca and his biographies reveal "an artist obsessed with status". He was a member of the Accademia from 1593 until his death, and three times President.[5] Apart from the regular later title of "first historian of the Roman Baroque", in his lifetime he was also nicknamed Il Sordo del Barozzo as he suffered from deafness. He died in Rome on 30 December 1643 at the age of 77.[6] Writings[edit] Giovanni Baglione, Sacred Love and Profane Love (c. 1602–03), Oil on canvas, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin Giovanni Baglione, Sacred Love and Profane Love, 1602. Oil on canvas, 240 × 143 cm. Rome, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica di Palazzo Barberini. He published two books, The nine churches of Rome (Le nove chiese di Roma 1639),[7] and The Lives of Painters, Sculptors, Architects and Engravers, active from 1572–1642 (Le Vite de' Pittori, scultori, architetti, ed Intagliatori dal Pontificato di Gregorio XII del 1572. fino a' tempi de Papa Urbano VIII. nel 1642, 1642). The latter is still seen as an important historical source for artists living in Rome during the lifetime of Baglione. His first book was an artistic guide to Rome's nine major pilgrimage churches, which is notable for its period in taking an interest in the works of all periods, and remains useful to scholars as an account of these churches at a point before many subsequent alterations. It "marks a watershed in the guidebook literature of Rome-the turning point between the older tradition of devotional guidebooks ... and the modern tradition of artistic guides".[8] His biographies cover over two hundred artists in various media, all of whom had worked in Rome and were dead by the time he published. Relatively few other sources, other than contracts and the like, exist for most of these figures, and Baglione's work often remains the basis for their biographies, being drawn on extensively by Bellori, Passeri and others, as well as modern writers.[9] Baglione had known a large number of his subjects personally and his attributions and basic factual information is considered generally reliable, although like Vasari and most intervening biographers of artists, he sometimes repeats anecdotes uncritically. He carefully notes information about the social status and progress of his subjects, and is often very quick to criticise and moralize over human failings and bad habits. He "recorded all signs of social status, including houses, dress, collections, permission to wear a sword, splendid funerals, and tombs." Similarly, he never failed to mention if an artist was a member of his beloved Academy of St. Luke, had been elected to the Virtuosi del Pantheon, had been knighted, had been well paid for his work, or had been employed by noble patrons. And the corollary to this is Baglione's delight in recognizing artists as virtuosi, not simply as an expression of their artistic ability but in reference to their possessing literary, musical, or dramaturgical skills. Running throughout Le vite, in other words, is an abiding concern with the honor of the profession-with the elevated status and nobilta of the artist as gentleman."[10] As far as possible, his descriptions of works concentrated on those accessible to the public.[11] Litigation against Caravaggio[edit] Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Amor Vincit Omnia, c. 1602. Oil on canvas, 156.5 × 113.3 cm. Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. Baglione's best known painting, Sacred Love and Profane Love (or The Divine Eros Defeats the Earthly Eros and other variants), was a direct response to Caravaggio's Amor Vincit Omnia (1601–02). Baglione's painting exists in two versions, the earlier in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin (c. 1602–03) and the later in the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica at Palazzo Barberini in Rome. Both show Sacred Love as an angelic winged figure interrupting a 'meeting' between Cupid (Profane Love), shown as in the Caravaggio as a smaller and naked winged figure, and the Devil. In the later Rome version the devil is portrayed with the caricatured features of Caravaggio, while in Berlin his face is turned away. Both paintings were commissioned by members of the Giustiniani family in Rome: the Caravaggio by the banker and collector Marchese Vincenzo Giustiniani, and Baglione's riposte by his brother Cardinal Benedetto Giustiniani. What in the two brothers was probably a good-natured family joke reflected serious rivalry between the artists concerned. Baglione was greatly influenced by the style of Caravaggio during this period of his career, and the younger artist and his circle had claimed, with some justification, that Baglione had plagiarized his style.[12] In late August 1603 Baglione filed a suit for libel against Caravaggio, Orazio Gentileschi, Ottavio Leoni, and Filipo Trisegni in connection with some unflattering poems circulated around Rome over the preceding summer, which he appears to have been correct in attributing to Caravaggio's circle. Baglione had recently completed his large altarpiece of the Resurrection of Jesus for Il Gesu, the main church of the Jesuit Order (it was much later replaced), and claimed that Caravaggio was jealous of this important commission. Caravaggio's testimony during the trial as recorded in court documents is one of the few documented records of his thoughts about art and his contemporaries. It included statements that: "I don't know any painter who thinks Giovanni Baglione is a good painter", the Resurrection altarpiece was "clumsy [goffa]" and "it's the worst he's done, and I haven't heard a single painter praise the said painting." Caravaggio was found guilty and held in the Tor di Nona prison for two weeks after the trial, but far from clearing his reputation, Caravaggio's damaging remarks have dominated the critical assessment of Baglione ever since, although Gentileschi's evidence conceded that he was a "first-class painter". Years after Caravaggio's early death in 1610, Baglione was his first biographer, and though he gave him much praise for his early works, his dislike is evident, concentrated on the younger artist's life and character and his later paintings; this verdict, especially as regards the man, has also remained highly influential.[13][14] Paintings[edit] He was mainly a painter of religious subjects, reflecting the Roman market, but also painted several mythological subjects, including an "astonishing" Venus whipped by Love (1620s) with an unusually suggestive pose, accentuated by strong chiaroscuro, for the plump goddess, who is viewed foreshortened from behind as she lies on a bed.[15] He was employed in many of the considerable numbers of church commissions in Rome during the pontificates of Clement VIII, Paul V and Urban VIII in the early years of the new century, from which the Caravaggisti were largely excluded.[16] The two largest churches being filled with paintings at this period were St. Peter's Basilica, where his Saint Peter Raising Tabitha from the Dead (1607) earned his knighthood from Paul V, and Santa Maria Maggiore, where his frescoes can be seen in the Cappella Borghese. For the church of Santa Maria dell'Orto he painted a number of works in both fresco and oils, including a fresco cycle of scenes from the Life of the Virgin, a Saint Sebastian and other saints. A Last Supper is in San Nicola in Carcere. There is a Saint Stephen in the Cathedral at Perugia, and in that of Loreto a Saint Catherine. The Giustizia (Justice) hall at the Rocca dei Rossi was completely frescoed by Baglione. A series of paintings of Apollo and the Muses is in Arras.[17] Gallery[edit] The Ecstasy of St Francis, 1601, Art Institute of Chicago San Sebastiano curato da un angelo, circa 1603, private collection Judith and the Head of Holofernes, 1608, Galleria Borghese San Sebastiano curato dagli angeli, 1624, Santa Maria dell'Orto Hercules at the crossroads, 1640-1642, National Gallery of Slovenia, Ljubljana See also[edit] Artists in biographies by Giovanni Baglione Sacred-profane dichotomy Notes[edit] ^ O'Neill; Wittkower, who relegates his account of Baglione's style to a note at n. 9, p. 514, and p. 74 ^ O'Neill ^ Ostrow, 609 ^ Wittkower, citing Carla Guigliemi (1954), n. 9, p. 514 ^ Ostrow, 609, Dictionary ^ Dictionary ^ Giovanni Baglione (1639). Le noue chiese di Roma, di Giouanni caualier Baglione romano dell'habito di Christo. Nelle quali si contengono le historie pitture scolture, & architetture di esse. per Andrea Fei. ^ Ostrow, 609, quoted; Dictionary ^ Ostrow, 609; Dictionary ^ Ostrow, 609, quoting Joseph Connor at the start. ^ O'Neil ^ Ostrow, 608; Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, Prestel, 148; Wittkower, 74 ^ Catherine Puglisi (1998). Caravaggio. Phaidon. pp. 224–228. ISBN 0714839663. ^ Ostrow, 608 (with Caravaggio quotes); Dictionary (quotes Gentileschi) ^ Ostrow, 608, quoted; image ^ Wittkower, 28, 33, 141 ^ O'Neil; Bryan References[edit]  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Cavaliere Giovanni Baglioni". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Bryan, Michael (1886). Robert Edmund Graves (ed.). Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, Biographical and Critical (Volume I: A-K). York St. #4, Covent Garden, London; Original from Fogg Library, Digitized 18 May 2007: George Bell and Sons. p. 68.CS1 maint: location (link) "Dictionary", Giovanni Baglione at Dictionary of Art Historians.org Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, Prestel Museum Guide, 1998, Prestel Verlag, ISBN 3-7913-1912-4 O’Neil, Maryvelma, "Baglione, Giovanni" in Grove Art Online, Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press, accessed 16 February 2013, subscriber only Ostrow, Steven F., review of Giovanni Baglione: Artistic Reputation in Baroque Rome by Maryvelma Smith O'Neil, The Art Bulletin, Vol. 85, No. 3 (Sep. 2003), pp. 608–611, online text Wittkower, Rudolf, Art and Architecture in Italy, 1600-1750, Penguin/Yale History of Art, 3rd edition, 1973, ISBN 0-14-056116-1 Further reading[edit] Maryvelma Smith O'Neil, "Giovanni Baglione: Artistic Reputation in Baroque Rome", the main monograph in English, though criticised for Ostrow and others for over-praising Baglione. The genius of Rome 1592-1623, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2001, editor Beverly Louise Brown. External links[edit] Wikimedia Commons has media related to Giovanni Baglione. Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi, a fully digitized exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries, which contains material on Giovanni Baglione (see index) v t e Caravaggisti Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio Artists in biographies by Giovanni Baglione Baroque Chiaroscuro Tenebrism Paintings attributed to Caravaggio Dutch Caravaggisti Dirck van Baburen Jan van Bijlert Paulus Bor Andries Both Hendrick Bloemaert Jan Gerritsz van Bronckhorst Hendrick ter Brugghen Wouter Crabeth II Gerard van Honthorst Matthias Stom Flemish Caravaggisti Flemish Baroque painting Adam de Coster Nicolas Régnier Theodoor Rombouts Gerard Seghers French Caravaggisti Trophime Bigot Valentin de Boulogne Georges de La Tour Jean LeClerc Nicolas Tournier Claude Vignon Simon Vouet Italian Caravaggisti Giovanni Baglione Marco Antonio Bassetti Orazio Borgianni Battistello Caracciolo Cecco del Caravaggio Bernardo Cavallino Bartolomeo Cavarozzi Domenico Fetti Paolo Domenico Finoglia Giovanni Antonio Galli Artemisia Gentileschi Orazio Gentileschi Giovanni Francesco Guerrieri Ottavio Leoni Bartolomeo Manfredi Mario Minniti Pietro Paolino Mattia Preti Orazio Riminaldi Carlo Saraceni Bartolomeo Schedoni Giovanni Serodine Carlo Sellitto Leonello Spada Massimo Stanzione Giuseppe Vermiglio Spanish Caravaggisti Bartolomé Esteban Murillo Francisco Ribalta Juan Ribalta Jusepe de Ribera Francisco de Zurbarán Related topics Rembrandt Gerrit Dou Peter Paul Rubens Diego Velázquez Authority control BNE: XX882974 BNF: cb12216374t (data) CANTIC: a10182226 GND: 118977547 ICCU: IT\ICCU\CFIV\100699 ISNI: 0000 0001 1690 1477 KulturNav: accc1a0f-722d-4922-b280-0b559c893cb8 LCCN: nr90026210 NKC: mzk2003215028 NLI: 000524829 NTA: 073409898 RKD: 3571 SUDOC: 03082592X ULAN: 500012161 VcBA: 495/26970 VIAF: 95297851 WorldCat Identities: lccn-nr90026210 Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Giovanni_Baglione&oldid=972336906" Categories: 1566 births 1643 deaths Artists from Rome Italian Baroque painters 16th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 17th-century Italian painters Italian engravers Italian art historians Artist authors 17th-century Italian writers 17th-century male writers Italian male non-fiction writers Hidden categories: Use dmy dates from August 2020 Articles with hCards Pages using infobox artist with unknown parameters Articles incorporating a citation from the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia with Wikisource reference Articles incorporating text from the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia with Wikisource reference CS1 maint: location Commons category link from Wikidata Wikipedia articles with BNE identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with CANTIC identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with ICCU identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with KULTURNAV identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with NKC identifiers Wikipedia articles with NLI identifiers Wikipedia articles with NTA identifiers Wikipedia articles with RKDartists identifiers Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers Wikipedia articles with ULAN identifiers Wikipedia articles with VcBA identifiers Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikimedia Commons Languages Català Deutsch Español فارسی Français Հայերեն Italiano Latina Lietuvių Norsk bokmål Polski Português Русский Svenska ไทย Українська Edit links This page was last edited on 11 August 2020, at 14:07 (UTC). Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers Contact Wikipedia Mobile view Developers Statistics Cookie statement