Giovanni Battista Cecchi
Giovanni Battista Cecchi (1748/9 – after 1815) was an Italian engraver, active in a neoclassical style in his native Florence, Region of Tuscany, Italy.
Biography[edit]
Initially trained as a carpenter, an injury to his dominant right hand prompted apprenticing under Francesco Conti, and subsequently became a follower of the engraver Ferdinando Gregori. He initially dedicated himself to printed copies of major paintings, for example, a reproduction (1767) of the Madonna and Child by Annibale Carracci (On display at Istituto nazionale per la grafica) and a copy (1768) of the Mystical Marriage of St Catherine by Francesco Vanni.
He was one of the artists commissioned by the Grand-Duke Leopold in 1769 to complete a 12 volume work: Serie degli uomini i più illustri nella pittura, scultura, e architettura con i loro elogi, e ritratti incisi in rame cominciando dalla sua prima restaurazione fino ai tempi presenti, containing over 300 engravings of artist portraits.[1]
Among his portraits were depictions of the violinist Pietro Nardini, sculptor Vellano da Padova, painter Battista Franco, and reproductions of Habsburg-Lorraine family portraits painted by Giuseppe Piattoli in 1785 and 1791. He collaborated with the engraver Benedetto Eredi in a two volume set of Bonarum artium splendori XII tabulae a praestantissimis Italiae pictoribus expressae 1776–1779. He engraved the sculptural collections of Gaetano Vascellini.[2] Cecchi engraved a calendar with designs by Giuseppe Zocchi.[3] He created engravings for the first two volumes of L'Etruria pittrice ovvero Storia della pittura toscana dedotta dai suoi monumenti che si esibiscono in stampa dal secolo X fino al presente by Marco Lastri.[4]
In 1800, he created engravings recalling the resistance against Napoleonic invasions: Insurrection of Arezzo against the French, the Battle of the Piazza del Duomo of Arezzo, The loyalty of the Aretini and Cortona freed from the yoke of the French.[5]
Other works[edit]
- Calling of St Andrew to Apostleship after Ludovico Cardi
- Martyrdom of St Laurence after Pietro da Cortona
- Martyrdom of St Vitalis after Federico Barrocci
- Stoning of St Stephen after Federico Barrocci
- Entombment of Christ after Daniele da Volterra
- Cataline's Conspiracy after Salvator Rosa
Note[edit]
- ^ Serie degli uomini i più illustri nella pittura, scultura, e architettura con i loro elogi, e ritratti incisi in rame cominciando dalla sua prima restaurazione fino ai tempi presenti, Firenze, 1769–1775
- ^ Firenze, presso Niccolò Pagni e Giuseppe Bardi, 1786.
- ^ Firenze, Giuseppe Bardi, tra 1750 e 1799.
- ^ Firenze, Niccolò Pagni & Giuseppe Bardi, 1791-1795.
- ^ L'Italia nella Rivoluzione; pp. 332-335.
Bibliography[edit]
- Ulrich Thieme - Felix Becker (c. 1900s), E. A. Seeman (ed.), Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Kunstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. 6: Carlini-Cioci, Leipzig, p. 8 s. Ad vocem
- Luigi Servolini, Dizionario illustrato degli incisori italiani moderni e contemporanei, 1955, p. 185, Gorlich, editor, Milan.
- Giuseppina Benassati; Lauro Rossi, eds. (1990), L'Italia nella Rivoluzione 1789 1799, Casalecchio di Reno: Grafis Edizioni, pp. 332–335, L'Italia nella Rivoluzione Catalog of Exhibit at Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma.
- Translated from the Italian Wikipedia entry
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