Genre Painting in the Art of G.B. Piazzetta (1683-1754) and Members of His Workshop

The art of Giovanni Battista Piazzetta revolutionized the Venetian settecento art in terms of genre painting. His workshop was frequented by many artists who practiced both his approach to drawing as well as painting. This paper examines the genre paintings and presentation drawings of G.B. Piazzetta and members of his workshop; it does so in order to reveal the special features of said genre oeuvres. The objects of study are genre paintings and genre drawings by Giovanni Battista Piazzetta and members of his workshop: Giulia Lama (1682-1747), Francesco Polazzo (1683-1753), Egidio dall’Oglio (1705-1784), Giuseppe Angeli (1712-1798), Domenico Maggiotto (1712-1794), Francesco Capella (1711-1784) and Antionio Marinetti (1719-1796). The author attempts to trace the beginning of G.B. Piazzetta genre practice, examine his presentation drawings in relation to the genre painting as well as the stylistic features of his pastorals. As a result, the key features of G.B. Piazzetta genre works could be described as following: appropriation of the themes and techniques of the 17th century painters (namely G.M. Crespi and Rembrandt), life drawing and stylistic transformation. Outlining the key themes in genre paintings of G.B. Piazzetta followers and apprentices has shown that, despite many variations of the genre, it merely developed further and became a mass production.