venetian art, 1600–1797 821
contemporary artists active in Venice, the Florentine appeals to his friend
Pietro Liberi and confides that he will be able to attain immortality thanks
to the privilege of sitting for a portrait done by his friend. Mazzoni was cer-
tainly unprejudiced, for there was no more “Venetian” painter than Liberi.
a pupil of Padovanino and exponent of tenebrismo, Pietro Liberi
(Padua, 1605–Venice, 1687) gave birth, through the example of titian
and Veronese, to a “dewy and auburn” style24 permeated by a soft sen-
suality, a “delicious” manner of painting which brings the mind to rejoice
(Fig. 22.3).25 a man of great culture and the most varied interests, Liberi
“almost never painted histories but rather many fables and even more
hieroglyphics, some of which he alone possibly understood,” and above all
he was “the inventor of his style.”26 after a long series of journeys through
italy, europe, and istanbul, upon returning to Venice he was able, in 1682,
together with antonio Zanchi and Carl Loth, to emancipate Venetian
painters from the masses of the dipintori (artisanal painters).27 awarded
by the republic with the title of Knight of St Mark and later nominated
Count-Palatine by emperor Leopold i, he crowned his prestigious and suc-
cessful career with the construction of a monumental palace on the Grand
Canal from the design of his friend, the painter-poet-architect Sebastiano
Mazzoni. although the greatest part of his production was easel painting,
Liberi also worked in frescos: see, for instance, the brilliant examples of
the Apotheosis of Saint Anthony for the sacristy of the saint in Padua and
the complex allegories for the barchessa of Villa Foscarini in Stra.28
in such a context, andrea Celesti (Venice, 1638–1710) stands out for a style
which is at once rough and turbulent as well as varnished, lit up with
hints of gold of a grainy consistency that emphasizes the finest lessons of
Guerriera e altri versi sull’arte (Venice/Verona, 2008), pp. 7–12; Marco Leone, “Sebastiano
Mazzoni tra poesia e pittura,” in Mazzoni, rossi, and Leone, La pittura Guerriera,
pp. 13–34.
24 adriano Mariuz, Antonio Pellegrini a Padova, in a. Bettagno, ed., Antonio Pellegrini.
Il maestro del Rococò alle corti d’Europa, catalogo della mostra (Padova, Palazzo della
ragione, 20 settembre 1998–10 gennaio 1999) (Venice, 1998), 23.
25 anton Maria Zanetti, Della pittura veneziana e delle opere pubbliche de’ veneziani
maestri (Venice, 1771), p. 380.
26 anton Maria Zanetti, Descrizione di tutte le pubbliche pitture della città di Venezia.. .:
o sia rinnovazione delle Ricche Minere di Marco Boschini... (Venice, 1733), p. 55.
27 elena Favaro, L’arte dei pittori in Venezia e i suoi statuti (Florence, 1975).
28 Ugo ruggeri, Pietro e Marco Liberi: pittori nella Venezia del Seicento (rimini, 1996);
Massimo Favilla and ruggero rugolo, “Pietro Liberi-Domenico Bruni, Stra, villa Foscarini
negrelli rossi,” in F. Pedrocco, ed., Gli affreschi nei palazzi e nelle ville venete dal ’500 al ’700
(Vicenza, 2008), pp. 154–61.