Accademia - La Meditazione by Domenico Fetti 1618

Domenico Fetti (also spelled Feti) ( – 16 April 1623) was an Italian Baroque painter who was active mainly in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

Mantua Mantua ( ; ; Lombard language, Lombard and ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lombardy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, eponymous province. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the "Italian Capital of Culture". In 2 ...

and

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

Biography

Born in Rome to a little-known painter, Pietro Fetti, Domenico is said to have apprenticed initially under Ludovico Cigoli, or his pupil Andrea Commodi in Rome from circa 1604–1613. He then worked in

from 1613 to 1622, patronized by the Cardinal, later Duke Ferdinando I Gonzaga. In the Ducal Palace, he painted the ''Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes''. The series of representations of New Testament parables he carried out for his patron's '' studiolo'' gave rise to a popular speciality, and he and his studio often repeated his compositions. In August or September 1622, his feuds with some prominent Mantuans led him to move to

, which for the first few decades of the seventeenth century had persisted in sponsoring

Mannerist Mannerism is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, when the Baroque style largely replaced it ...

styles (epitomized by Palma the Younger and the successors of

Tintoretto Jacopo Robusti (late September or early October 1518Bernari and de Vecchi 1970, p. 83.31 May 1594), best known as Tintoretto ( ; , ), was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Venetian school. His contemporaries both admired and criticized th ...

and Veronese). Into this mix, in the 1620s–30s, three "foreigners"—Fetti and his younger contemporaries Bernardo Strozzi and Jan Lys—breathed the first influences of the Roman Baroque style. They adapted some of the rich colouration of Venice but adapted it to

Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (also Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi da Caravaggio; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), known mononymously as Caravaggio, was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the fina ...

-influenced realism and monumentality. In Venice, where he remained despite pleas from the Duke to return to Mantua, Fetti changed his style: his formalized painting style became more colourful. In addition, he devoted attention to smaller cabinet pieces that adapt

genre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...

imaging to religious stories. His group of paintings entitled ''Parables'', which represent

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

scenes, are at the Dresden Gemäldegalerie. He influenced Leonaert Bramer. His painting style appears to have been influenced by

Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged compositions reference erudite aspects of clas ...

. He would likely have continued to find excellent patronage in Venice had he not died there in 1623 or 1624. Jan Lys, eight years younger, but who had arrived in Venice nearly contemporaneously, died during the plague of 1629–30. Subsequently, Fetti's style would influence the Venetians Pietro della Vecchia and Sebastiano Mazzone. His pupils in Mantua were Francesco Bernardi (il Bigolaro) and Dionisio Guerri.''Le vite de' pittori, degli scultori, et architetti veronesi''
by Bartolomeo Dal Pozzo (1718), page 169. He also instructed his sister Lucrina in painting, and her works have sometimes been attributed to him.

Gallery

File:Portrait of an Actor - Domenico Fetti - Hermitage ГЭ-153 (3736 x 2859 px).jpg, '' Portrait of an Actor'' File:Domenico Fetti 008.jpg, ''Ideal Portrait of Gonzaga'' (c. 1620) File:Domenico Fetti - Christ and the Tribute Money - Walters 37582.jpg, ''Christ and the Tribute Money'' , a copy of ''The Tribute Money'' by Titian File:Domenico Fetti - Peter's vision of a sheet with animals - Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien.jpg, ''

Peter's vision of a sheet with animals Peter's Food Service is a Bedwas, Wales based baker and supplier of pies, pasties, slices, sausage rolls and factored products into retail, food service, catering and hospitality outlets across the United Kingdom. Today it is one of the largest em ...

'' (c. 1619) File:Domenico Fetti (attrib.) - Davide con la testa di Golia.jpg, ''David with the Head of Goliath'' File:Veronicas Svetteduk av Domenico Fetti.jpg, ''Veronica's Veil'' (1618 or 1622) File:The Young David Gathering Stones for his Slingshot is the only work by Domenico Fetti.jpg, ''The Young David Gathering Stones for his Slingshot'' File:Domenico Fetti - The Repentant St Mary Magdalene - WGA07851.jpg, ''The Repentant St Mary Magdalene'' File:Domenico Fetti - Sleeping Girl - WGA7863.jpg, ''Sleeping Girl'' File:Domenico fetti, moltiplicazione dei pani e dei pesci, 1620 ca. 01.jpg, ''Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes'' (c. 1620)

Works

Fetti's works include: * ''The Good Samaritan'' (

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

, New York) * ''Melancholy'' ( Accademia, Venice) * ''Emperor Domitian'' (

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

) * ''Eve and Laboring Adam'' (Louvre) * ''Angel in the Garden'' (Louvre) * ''Jacob's Dream'' ( Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) * '' Portrait of an Actor'' (

Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and holds the large ...

, St Petersburg) * '' The Healing of Tobit'' (Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg)

References

* * *

External links

Web Gallery of Art, paintings by Domenico Feti
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fetti, Domenico 1580s births 1623 deaths Painters from Rome 16th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 17th-century Italian painters Italian Baroque painters Painters from Venice Sibling artists Caravaggisti Catholic painters