Felice Giani (17 December 1758 – 10 January 1823) was an Italian painter of the Neoclassic style. His grand manner subjects often included Greco-Roman allusions or themes.

Biography

Born in

San Sebastiano Curone San Sebastiano Curone (Piedmontese: ''San Bastiau Curou'' ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southeast of Turin and about southeast of Alessandria, at the confluence of th ...

near Alessandria, he moved to

Pavia Pavia ( , ; ; ; ; ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, in Northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino (river), Ticino near its confluence with the Po (river), Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was a major polit ...

. In Pavia, he studied with Carlo Bianchi and Antonio Galli Bibiena. He moved to

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

, in 1778, where he entered the studio of Domenico Pedrini and

Ubaldo Gandolfi Ubaldo Gandolfi (1728–1781) was an Italian painter, draughtsman and sculptor of the late-Baroque period, mainly active in and near Bologna. He is known for his biblical, mythological and allegorical subjects as well as his portraits and nudes. ...

. He attended the

Accademia Clementina The Accademia di Belle Arti di Bologna ('academy of fine arts of Bologna') is a public tertiary academy of fine art in Bologna, Italy. It has a campus in Cesena. Giorgio Morandi taught engraving at the Accademia for more than 25 years. Hist ...

, where he won a prize, and in 1780 he moved to Rome, where he studied at the

Accademia di San Luca The Accademia di San Luca () is an Italian academy of artists in Rome. The establishment of the Accademia de i Pittori e Scultori di Roma was approved by papal brief in 1577, and in 1593 Federico Zuccari became its first ''principe'' or director; ...

until 1783. In Rome he found work in the decoration of the Palazzo Altieri. Between 1780 and 1786, he worked in various studios in Rome, under, for example,

Pompeo Batoni Pompeo Girolamo Batoni (25 January 1708 – 4 February 1787) was an Italian painter who displayed a solid technical knowledge in his portrait work and in his numerous Allegory, allegorical and mythological pictures. The high number of foreign vis ...

and Christoph Unterberger. He then returned north to work in

Faenza Faenza (, ; ; or ; ) is an Italian city and comune of 59,063 inhabitants in the province of Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna, situated southeast of Bologna. Faenza is home to a historical manufacture of majolica-ware glazed earthenware pottery, known ...

, where he worked with the

quadratura Illusionistic ceiling painting, which includes the techniques of perspective di sotto in sù and quadratura, is the tradition in Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo art in which ''trompe-l'œil'', perspective tools such as foreshortening, and other ...

painter Serafino Barozzi, and with Giovanni Battista Ballanti. In Faenza he was involved in a prolific series of projects including the fresco decoration of the Laderchi, Naldi and Milzetti Palaces. The latter is considered his masterpiece. In Bologna, he decorated the Palazzi Aldini, Marescalchi, Lambertini Ranuzzi, and Baciocchi. In Rome, he worked in the palace of the Embassy of Spain,

Palazzo Quirinale The Quirinal Palace ( ) is a historic building in Rome, Italy, the main official residence of the President of the Italian Republic, together with Villa Rosebery in Naples and the Tenuta di Castelporziano, an estate on the outskirts of Rome, some ...

, and he also did work in

Forlì Forlì ( ; ; ; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) and city in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, and is, together with Cesena, the capital of the Province of Forlì-Cesena.The city is situated along the Via Emilia, to the east of the Montone river, ...

Ferrara Ferrara (; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, capital of the province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main ...

Ravenna Ravenna ( ; , also ; ) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire during the 5th century until its Fall of Rome, collapse in 476, after which ...

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 ...

. He befriended the Napoleonic French leaders, and travelled to Paris where he painted frescos in the villa of the Secretary of State of the Kingdom of Italy. It is there, where he is credited with co-establishing the French Empire style. He first studied in

, then sponsored by the patronage of marchese Luigi Botta, he continued studies at

(1778–79), then at the

in Rome, under Bartoni, Cristoforo Unterberger, and architect

Giovanni Antonio Antolini Giovanni Antonio Antolini (11 September 175311 March 1841) was an Italian architect and writer. His most ambitious work was the uncompleted Foro Bonaparte at Milan, an idealistic and visionary project later modified by Luigi Canonica. Antolini's ...

. He returned to Faenza in 1796 -1797 as a collaborator of Serafino Lodovico Barozzi, and helped in the decoration of the Galleria dei Cento Pacifici. He helped establish the first Scuola Pubblica di Disegno, opened in 1796 under Giuseppe Zauli. In Faenza, Giani created a studio which had as pupils Gaetano Bertolani, Antonio Trentanove, the brothers Ballanti Graziani, and Marcantonio Trifogli. Scuola di Disegno Tommasso Minardi
biographies of professors. In 1784, he won second prize in the painting competition of the Academy of Parma with ''Samson and Delilah''. In 1811, he joined the

and in 1819, the Congregation of the Virtuosi of the Pantheon. He died after falling from his horse in Rome in 1823, and he is buried in the church of Sant'Andrea delle Fratte.

Legacy

His work is held in the collection of the

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum is a design museum at the Andrew Carnegie Mansion in Manhattan, New York City, along the Upper East Side's Museum Mile. It is one of 19 Smithsonian Institution museums and one of three Smithsonian facil ...

References

Bibliography

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External links

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Web Gallery of Art biography.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Giani, Felice 1758 births 1823 deaths People from the Province of Alessandria 18th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 19th-century Italian painters 19th-century Italian male artists Italian neoclassical painters Fresco painters 18th-century Italian male artists