Giovanni Pietro Bellori (15 January 1613 – 19 February 1696), also known as Giovan Pietro Bellori or Gian Pietro Bellori , was an Italian art theorist, painter and antiquarian, who is best known for his work Lives of the Artists , considered the seventeenth-century equivalent to Vasari 's Vite . His Vite de' Pittori, Scultori et Architetti Moderni , published in 1672, was influential in consolidating and promoting the theoretical case for classical idealism in art. As an art historical biographer, he favoured classicising artists rather than Baroque artists to the extent of omitting some of the key artistic figures of 17th-century art altogether.
28-588: Bellori was born in Rome on 15 January 1613, the son of Giacomo, a farmer. He was reared and educated by his maternal uncle, Francesco Angeloni , who was an antiquarian , writer of comedies , dialogues and operas, a numismatist ( Historia Augusta , 1641) and collector of art, antiquities and natural history (he had Correggio , Bassano and Titian among his paintings). Angeloni fostered in Bellori an interest in collecting and interpreting antiquities, and indeed his interest in
56-550: A Costantino il Magno illustrata con la verità delle antiche medaglie (1641, with a second edition edited by Bellori in 1685). He also wrote comedies and 38 novelle and a Storia di Terni (1646), a history of his hometown. In his house on the Pincio hill, from 1634 Angeloni raised and educated his nephew Giovanni Pietro Bellori , who became a well-known biographer of artists, antiquarian and archaeologist. Angeloni left his collections to Bellori on condition they were kept intact, but
84-510: A basic source for the history of 17th-century art — includes a selection of artists, on whom he had been collecting material from the 1640s. Some are Roman and others claimed for the Roman school, and the biographies are introduced by a scholarly apologia on idealization. His friend Carlo Maratta contributed funds for the posthumous publication of Bellori's Descrizzione delle imagini dipinte de Raffaelle d'Urbino (1696), which describes Raphael Rooms in
112-640: A casual visit to Deventer , under whose influence he abandoned jurisprudence for philology . He completed his studies under Daniel Heinsius at Leiden , and among others under the Protestant theologian David Blondel at Amsterdam . During his residence in Amsterdam, under Blondel's influence he abandoned Lutheranism and joined the Reformed Church ; and in 1656 he was called by the Elector of Brandenburg to
140-634: A hugely successful series of corpora, illustrated by Bartoli's engravings. An edition of prints of ancient bas-reliefs had already appeared by 1677, to be followed by the Column of Marcus Aurelius and its reliefs in 1679, the paintings in the Tomb of the Nasonii on the Via Flaminia , discovered in 1674 (published 1680), the triumphal arches of Rome in 1690, ancient funerary lamps in 1691-8 and ancient burials in 1697. Bellori
168-601: A work on Bolognese artists, but, only completed entries for Guido Reni , Andrea Sacchi and Carlo Maratta . The life of Maratta was published in 1732 and the three biographies together, edited from his manuscript, in 1942. In Bellori's view, the Renaissance ideal had been rescued from the tangled post- Raphael and Michelangelo styles now known as Mannerism , by the robust classicism of those following Annibale Carracci's lead. Bellori advocated idealism over realism or naturalism . This famously led to Bellori's reverence of
196-648: A young man, he took art lessons from the painter Domenichino . Philip Skippon , who visited Bellori in 1665, noted, "he draws pictures and makes good landskips", and as late as 1689 when Bellori was admitted to the French Academy he was listed as a painter. He became a member of the Accademia di San Luca by 1652 and was Secretary 1652–3, 1666, and 1668–72. Bellori was a close friend of many artists, including Nicolas Poussin , Giovanni Angelo Canini , François Duquesnoy , Charles Alphonse du Fresnoy and Carlo Maratta . In
224-615: Is deservedly famous for his knowledge of the Greek and Egyptian antiquities and for all that belongs to the mythologies and superstitions of the Heathens». Burnet included him in a list of the most learned men he met in Rome: Raffaello Fabretti , Honoré Fabri , Francesco Nazzari , Cardinal César d'Estrées , Cardinal Philip Howard and Ludovico Maracci . Bellori was one of the most important intellectuals of seventeenth-century Italy. He
252-778: The Apostolic Palace and the Loggia of Cupid and Psyche in the Villa Farnesina . In 1664 Bellori delivered an influential speech to the Accademia di San Luca on the Ideal in Art . In 1672 he published this as a preface to his biographies of recent and contemporary artists, entitled: Le vite de’ pittori, scultori et architetti moderni ( The lives of the modern painters, sculptors, and architects ). Since then it has acquired almost canonical status as one of
280-616: The Severan Marble Plan (1673), perhaps illustrated by himself, and one on Massimo's coin collection (1676). After Massimo's death in 1677, Bellori went on to catalogue rare coins in Cardinal Gaspare Carpegna 's library, and then those belonging to Queen Christina of Sweden, for whom he also served as antiquario . In collaboration with the printer Giovanni Giacomo de Rossi and the painter-engraver Pietro Santi Bartoli (1635–1700), who had also worked for Massimo, he produced
308-611: The Florentine writer on art, who visited Rome in 1681 on the occasion of the Queen's commission to him for a biography of Gian Lorenzo Bernini . By 1695 Bellori was very ill, suffering especially in his lower legs, and had not left his house since mid 1694. He died on 19 February 1696, and was buried in the Church of S. Isidoro . Bellori lived on the Pincian Hill near S. Isidoro, where he rebuilt
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#1733086046097336-605: The Papacy. Angeloni dedicated most of his life in collecting antique coins, medallions, books, paintings, and archaeological artifacts and achieved fame in Europe with the publication in 1641 of his edition of the Historia Augusta , a history of ancient Rome since Julius Caesar to Constantine the Great , illustrated with antique coins of the times: Historia Augusta da Giulio Cesare infino
364-478: The antique was pivotal to his whole career. On his death in 1652, Angeloni designated Bellori as his sole heir, but the will was invalidated by Angeloni's brothers, who sold off most of the collection, leaving Bellori with the house on the Pincio, located on the via Orsina near the church of Sant'Isidoro, where he had grown up and in which he lived all his life. Bellori had been keenly interested in art since childhood. As
392-547: The cardinal of the same name ) were particular friends. Johann Georg Graevius Johann Georg Graevius (originally Grava or Greffe ; Latin: Joannes/Johannes Georgius Graevius; 29 January 1632 – 11 January 1703) was a German classical scholar and critic . He was born in Naumburg , in the Electorate of Saxony . Graevius was originally intended for the law , but made the acquaintance of Johann Friedrich Gronovius during
420-469: The chair of rhetoric in the University of Duisburg . Two years afterwards, on the recommendation of Gronovius, he was chosen to succeed that scholar at Deventer; in 1662 he moved to the University of Utrecht , where he occupied first the chair of rhetoric, and in addition, from 1667 until his death, that of history and politics . Graevius enjoyed a very high reputation as a teacher, and his lecture-room
448-477: The classics, although they marked a distinct advance in scholarship, are now for the most part superseded. They include Hesiod (1667), Lucian , Pseudosophista (1668), Justin , Historiae Philippicae (1669), Suetonius (1672), Catullus , Tibullus et Propertius (1680), and several of the works of Cicero . He also edited many of the writings of contemporary scholars. He corresponded with scholars throughout Europe including with Albert Rubens ,
476-707: The dispersed collection of Angeloni. Travellers' diaries and guidebooks confirm that Bellori had assembled a small but well-chosen gallery , with works attributed to Titian, Tintoretto , Van Dyck , Maratta and Annibale Carracci, amongst others. After his death, his collection was purchased by Frederick I of Prussia and Augustus III of Saxony . Bellori's collection of ancient gems and medals found their way to Dresden where they helped shape J.J. Winckelmann 's vision of antiquity. The famous French antiquarian Jacob Spon , who met Bellori in Rome in 1675, considered him «très savant en toutes sortes d'antiquités». According to another famous visitor, Bishop Gilbert Burnet , «Bellori
504-505: The earlier biographies of Roman artists by Giovanni Baglione . Vasari's definition of disegno or design, at that time seen as the most important artistic element, is tied up in the concept of 'prudence'. An artist's work could essentially be seen as a series of choices, and the wisdom of these choices was owed to the character or 'prudence' of the artist. This forms the basis of subsequent value judgments in art by Bellori and his contemporaries. Bellori and Agucchi, after Aristotle, equated
532-541: The earliest declarations of the principles of Classicism . Bellori's Lives of the Artists is one of the foundational texts of the history and criticism of European art. It covers the brothers Annibale Carracci and Agostino Carracci , Domenico Fontana , Federico Barocci , Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio , Rubens , Anthony van Dyck , Francois Duquesnoy , Domenico Zampieri (il Domenichino ), Giovanni Lanfranco , Alessandro Algardi and Nicolas Poussin . Bellori planned
560-438: The family contested the will and Bellori only received the house, with the collections being dispersed. His collections were large and diverse, but included some 600 drawings by his friend Annibale Carracci , a large library, and the diverse range of objects typical of the contemporary cabinet of curiosities , but on an unusually large scale. He left a manuscript catalogue. Giovanni Battista Agucchi and Camillo Massimi (uncle of
588-529: The painting of Annibale Carracci and repudiation of Caravaggio . His writing of the 'Idea' is influenced by Giovanni Battista Agucchi , Vasari , Leon Battista Alberti , Aristotle and others. In Bellori's Lives the artists he most admired were Domenichino and Nicolas Poussin; his friend the sculptor Alessandro Algardi was praised while Bernini was not mentioned and he included the painters Andrea Sacchi and his pupil Carlo Maratta , however, he omitted Pietro da Cortona . Bellori often relied for his facts on
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#1733086046097616-458: The practice of idealism with prudent choice, and naturalism with poor prudence. By the late 1660s Bellori assisted Leonardo Agostini in his duties as papal Commissario delle Antichità (contributing much of the commentary to Agostini's gem collection), and in 1670 he took up the post himself, holding it for the next 24 years while undertaking an astonishing programme of further publications. These were at first sponsored by Cardinal Massimo , one on
644-469: The spring of 1661 he accompanied the representative of Louis XIV in Rome, M. Parisot on a long trip through Southern Italy. He became a member of the French Academy in 1689. He was appointed Commissario delle Antichità by Pope Clement X on 31 May 1670. Bellori was librarian and antiquarian to Queen Christina of Sweden from 1677 to 1689. While serving Christina, he certainly met Filippo Baldinucci ,
672-603: Was an Italian writer, antiquary , historian and collector of a wide range of objects including classical antiquities and drawings. Born in Terni in Umbria —a region of Italy at that time part of the Papal States —he studied in Perugia then moved to Rome , where he served as secretary of cardinal Ippolito Aldobrandini, later Pope Clement VIII (d. 1605), and for a time as chief notary to
700-566: Was an exceptional antiquario by any definition. Unlike him, most seventeenth-century antiquari published nothing, and when they did, like Agostini, it was usually a promotional catalogue of their own collection or just one or two items from it. Ménestrier 's one published work, a study of the image Ephesian Diana, based on examples in his own collection appeared close to twenty years after his death, also benefiting from Bellori's ministrations. Notes Bibliography Francesco Angeloni Francesco Angeloni (after 1559 – 29 November 1652)
728-427: Was crowded by pupils, many of them of distinguished rank, from all parts of the world. He was visited by Lorenzo Magalotti and honoured with special recognition by Louis XIV , and was a particular favourite of William III of England , who made him historiographer royal. His library, rich in antiquarian classical books, was bought after his death by Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine (reigned 1690–1716); part of it
756-563: Was later transferred to Heidelberg University Library Graevius died in Utrecht in 1703. His two most important works are the Thesaurus antiquitatum Romanarum (1694–1699, in 12 volumes), and the Thesaurus antiquitatum et historiarum Italiae published after his death, and continued by the elder Pieter Burmann (1704–1725), although these have not always been looked upon favourably. His editions of
784-459: Was the author of several learned archeological treatises, widely respected by later antiquarians and reprinted in great part in the Thesaurus of Graevius and Gronovius . His Nota dei Musei (1664) catalogued private and ecclesiastical libraries and collections in Rome and included the first detailed study of ancient painting. His poem 'On Painting' was published in 1642 to introduce Baglione 's ' Lives '. Bellori's own Vite ('Lives', 1672) —
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