venetian art, 1600–1797 813
D.C.4 We are presented with a modern psychological portrait that will be
an example to both Sebastiano Bombelli (Udine, 1635–Venice, 1719) and
nicolò Cassana (Venice, 1659–London, 1714), the principal exponents of
Venetian portraiture in the second half of the 17th century.
in the first 30 years of the century, sculpture too tended to follow the
late Mannerist production of alessandro Vittoria and Girolamo Cam-
pagna, reproposing a consolidated visual language that was more than
suitable for Counter-reformation devotion. Only with the arrival in the
lagune of Clemente Moli (Bologna, c. 1600–Venice, 1664) and Mattia Car-
neri (trent, 1592–1673) at the beginning of the 1630s would there be the
beginning of a change that would be gradually consolidated due to later
contributions of northern european sculptors such as Melchiorre Barthel
(Dresden, 1625–72), Giusto Le Court (Ypres, 1627–Venice, 1679), enrico
Meyring (reyne, 1639–Venice, 1723), and Michiel Fabris or l’Ongaro (Brat-
islava, 1644–Venice, 1684).5
The Contribution of Foreign Artists: The Foresti
in such a context, Venice confirmed its vocation as a city both cosmo-
politan and hospitable to foresti (foreigners), in the period when local
artists were forced to measure themselves against the so-called “golden
century” of 16th-century painting, an unavoidable object of comparison
and unreachable archetype. it was partly thanks to the contribution of
foreign artists that 17th-century Venetian painting was able to come to
grips with its illustrious past. these influences from abroad were more
important than ever in this conjuncture in determining the development
of the Venetian tradition, which at the same time was shifting its gaze to
rome and Bologna as well.6
if Carlo Saraceni (Venice, c. 1579–1620) returned to his native land in
1619 after a long period in rome with a pictorial style likened to a “soft-
ened Caravaggio,”7 the roman Domenico Fetti (rome, 1589–Venice, 1623)
reached Venice via Mantua the following year, reinterpreting classic Vene-
tian coloring in an eminently personal manner. with broad brushstrokes
filled with light “alla rubens.”
4 Francesca Bottacin, Tiberio Tinelli (Monfalcone, 2004), pp. 124–25.
5 Paola rossi, “il ruolo della scultura nel Seicento e la sua interrelazione con la pittura,”
in Mauro Lucco, ed., La pittura nel Veneto. Il Seicento, 2 vols (Milan, 2000–01), 2:617–24.
6 Mauro Lucco, “‘Foresti’ a Venezia nel Seicento,” in Lucco, ed., La pittura nel Veneto,
2:485–522.
7 Finocchi Ghersi, I quattro secoli, p. 94.