Giambattista Pittoni was an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 painter of the late-Baroque

Baroque

The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

 or Rococo

Rococo

Rococo , also referred to as "Late Baroque", is an 18th-century style which developed as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry and became increasingly ornate, florid, and playful...

 period, active mainly in his native Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

.

Pittoni was born in Venice, and studied painting under his uncle Francesco Pittoni and Antonio Balestra. Little is known of his early career. He entered the Venetian painters' guild in 1716. In 1722-1723, he was commissioned to paint “The Torture of St Thomas” for San Stae

San Stae

San Stae is a church in central Venice, in the sestiere di Santa Croce.San Stae, an abbreviation for Saint Eustachius, was founded at the beginning of 11th century and reconstructed in 17th century, has a main facade on the Grand Canal of Venice, constructed by Domenico Rossi, and richly...

 in Venice, which also contains one if his later works in its sacristy. He also completed the transit of Santa Maria in Organo

Santa Maria in Organo

Santa Maria in Organo is a church in Verona, Northern Italy.-History:The church's origin dates to the 6th-8th century, at the time of the Ostrogoth and Lombard dominations in Italy. The original convent was destroyed in Napoleonic times. The church was rebuilt after an earthquake in 1117...

 in Verona

Verona

Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...

 in 1725. In 1727, he was appointed honorary Academician of the Accademia Clementina in Bologna

Bologna

Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...

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In subsequent years, Pittoni never left his native Venice, but completed a number of important and lucrative commissions from German, Polish, Russian, Italian and Austrian patrons, including “The Sacrifice of Jephthah's daughter” for the Royal Palace of Turin

Royal Palace of Turin

Royal Palace of Turin or Palazzo Reale, is a palace in Turin, northern Italy. It was the royal palace of the House of Savoy. It was modernised greatly by the French born Madama Reale Christine Marie of France in the seventeenth century. The palace was worked on by Filippo Juvarra...

, a number of works for the Marshal von Schulenburg

Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg

Reichsfreiherr and Reichsgraf Marshal Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg was a distinguished aristocrat and general of Brandenburg-Prussian descent who served in the Saxon and Venetian armies in the early eighteenth century and found a second career in retirement in Venice, as a grand...

, and a “Martyrdom of St Batholomew” for the Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua

Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua

The Pontifical Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua is a Roman Catholic church and minor basilica in Padua, northern Italy. Although the Basilica is visited as a place of pilgrimage by people from all over the world, it is not the titular cathedral of the city, a title belonging to the...

. Pittoni came to be known for his "grand-manner" canvases depicting religious, historical, and mythological subjects (such as Sophonisba

Sophonisba

Sophonisba was a Carthaginian noblewoman who lived during the Second Punic War, and the daughter of Hasdrubal Gisco Gisgonis...

 and Polyxena

Polyxena

In Greek mythology, Polyxena was the youngest daughter of King Priam of Troy and his queen, Hecuba. She is considered the Trojan version of Iphigenia, daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. Polyxena is not in Homer's Iliad, appearing in works by later poets, perhaps to add romance to Homer's...

).

By 1740, he established a studio and residence in the San Giacomo district of Venice, and took on numerous apprentices. Pittoni died at age 80 on November 6, 1767. His tomb is at the church of San Giacomo dall'Orio

San Giacomo dall'Orio

The Chiesa di San Giacomo dall'Orio is a church in Venice, northern Italy, located in the sestiere of San Croce).The origin of the church's name is unknown...

 in Venice.

Pittoni was a co-founder of the official painter's academy in Venice (in competition to the old fraglia or painter's guild), the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia, and he succeeded as President (1758–1761) his contemporary Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo , also known as Gianbattista or Giambattista Tiepolo, was an Italian painter and printmaker from the Republic of Venice...

. His mature palette was noted, as was Tiepolo's, for his lightness of tone. Besides Tiepolo, Pittoni's influences were Giovanni Battista Piazzetta

Giovanni Battista Piazzetta

Giovanni Battista Piazzetta was an Italian rococo painter of religious subjects and genre scenes.-Biography:...

, Sebastiano Ricci

Sebastiano Ricci

Sebastiano Ricci was an Italian painter of the late Baroque school of Venice. About the same age as Piazzetta, and an elder contemporary of Tiepolo, he represents a late version of the vigorous and luminous Cortonesque style of grand manner fresco painting.-Early years:He was born in Belluno, son...

, and Antonio Balestra

Antonio Balestra

Antonio Balestra was an Italian painter of the Rococo period.Born in Verona, he first apprenticed there with Giovanni Zeffio. By 1690 he moved to Venice, where he worked for three years under Antonio Bellucci, then moved to Bologna and then to paint in Carlo Maratta's workshop in Rome. In 1694, he...

. His paintings were of a Rococo

Rococo

Rococo , also referred to as "Late Baroque", is an 18th-century style which developed as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry and became increasingly ornate, florid, and playful...

 style, but later became more sedate in their approach towards Neoclassicism

Neoclassicism

Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...

.