Francesco Gessi
Francesco Gessi (full name Giovan Francesco Gessi ) (born January 20, 1588 in Bologna , † September 15, 1649 ibid) was a northern Italian painter of the Baroque. Having a direct relationship with Guido Reni , he became one of the most important painters in Bologna and Emilia-Romagna in the first half of the 17th century.
Life
Francesco Gessi was born into a wealthy family in Bologna. Enjoying the support of his father, he was able to embark on the career of an artist and began his training as a painter in the workshops of Denys Calvaert and Giovanni Battista Cremoni . He is said to have been in contact with Francesco Albani through family contacts , but no facts are known beyond these indications. Between 1601 and 1610, probably 1607, he moved to the workshop of Guido Renis , one of the most important exponents of the Bolognese Baroque, who was active in both Rome and Bologna during those years. As a result of this, Gessi, who went on further commissioned trips with Reni and his staff, was able to get to know other art centers such as Mantua and Ravenna; By the year 1620 at the latest he was active again in Rome, because a two-time stay has been recorded for this period.
On the occasion of an order in Naples around 1621/22 there was a dispute between Reni and Gessi, which led to a permanent resentment between the two. The time at which the complete rift, which is handed down by sources, occurred cannot be precisely determined: Francesco Gessi was still working for Reni in Rome in 1626. In any case, the order to paint the Cappella del Tesoro di S. Gennaro in the cathedral in Naples under the direction of Reni was unsuccessful: the client withdrew the order after various differences. The aggressive competitive behavior of the Neapolitan art scene towards foreign competitors was probably another reason for Reni's failure on this assignment. Later Gessi went back to Bologna as Reni.
In 1624 Francesco Gessi returned to Naples with Battista Ruggieri and Lorenzo Menini as collaborators without the knowledge of Guido Renis, in order to apply there for the same job as three years earlier, this time under the direction of Fabrizio Santafede. This project was also unsuccessful. Returning to Bologna, Gessi opened his own workshop in the old rooms of Guido Renis in the Palazzo Fantuzzi and carried out numerous altar paintings and frescoes for the churches of Bologna and Emilia-Romagna. Some were destroyed, including by bomb damage in World War II. In addition, some works are in a precarious condition in terms of conservation, although there are also restoration efforts: for example, two large works by Gessi in Bologna at the end of 2004 - 'The Expulsion from the Temple' and 'Petri Fish' in the church of San Girolamo alla Certosa - returned to the public after restoration.
Francesco Gessi is said to have often been in need of money despite his numerous commissions and two inherited not inconsiderable fortunes. Contemporary or even later sources attribute the artistic quality of his above-mentioned altar paintings for the Certosa in Bologna from around 1645 (see photo), which was already discussed at that time, to this circumstance: he would have carried out the commission under time pressure and only with little ambition, exclusively to To insure fee.
plant
Francesco Gessi is an exponent of the Bolognese painting style of the first half of the 17th century. During his apprenticeship he got to know the currents of Italian art around 1600 and merged the tendencies into an individual personal style, which shows great independence in his strongest works. Although he was not part of the first guard - such as Domenichino , Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (called Il Guercino), Guido Reni , Annibale, Agostino and Ludovico Carracci - they are among the most interesting works of style development between 1620 and 1650.
_04.png)
An elegant synthesis of Emilian tendencies (Correggio, Carracci, Reni) and the invigorating influences of the Neapolitan Caravaggism attests to today's art historiography of his work. This is particularly evident in the physiognomies of the female figures, such as the frequently occurring depictions of saints - typical features of the schools of Ludovico Carracci and Guido Reni can be seen there: the pale pink flesh, the large, dark, often shimmering eyes and the after An upturned look are characteristics of the Bolognese painting style in the Baroque period. Details such as the creation of images in the depiction of old men and the drapery are also modeled on Ludovico Carracci and Francesco Albani. In addition, the preferred use of a dominant red / blue color accord proves the closeness to the painting school of Bologna. On the other hand, a realistic tendency is noticeable in some works, which - probably conveyed by Guido Reni - would be inconceivable without Michelangelo Merisi Caravaggio : Gessi's work here demonstrates a style synthesis that lies between the artificial, ethereal tendencies of the mature Guido Reni and the decorative eclectic classicism of Carracci and Caravaggio's realism. It is precisely this stylistic positioning that shows Gessi's independence, because although he did not lose sight of his style development even after the break with Guido Reni, like many of the artists of Bologna of the time, he never imitated him, but found his own visual language, Renis never imitates the almost mannerist style of the later years, but rather grounds it with a realistic impetus.
Collection presence
A basic problem with the listing of the works of Francesco Gessi is that there are always new opinions about the authorship of the works ascribed to him. So there are always changes in the catalog of works, and this problem arises from the following facts: on the one hand, both he and many other students of Guido Renis have oriented themselves to his very successful style. The enormously successful workshop operation promoted this development, because the students should paint like the master in order to be able to deliver as many orders as possible with the quality seal 'Guido Reni' to the numerous clients. Since this stylistic closeness was often very close, it is difficult to distinguish between the works of the individual students. On the other hand, in the workshop Guido Renis often painted several hands on a work or the students then made true-to-original copies of Guido Reni's most successful works, so that for some works it is difficult to attribute them to students and / or masters. For example, contemporary sources emphasize that Francesco Gessi was valued, among other things, because he was most successful in adopting Guido Reni's style.
A large number of his traditional works are still in situ in the churches (mostly in Bologna and Emilia-Romagna) for which they were made. Unfortunately, his work is only rudimentarily documented and, moreover, mostly undated in the image sources, so that an overview of his style development is difficult to realize. These attributions are mostly documented by various types of documents. Religious works can also be found in museums and private collections, supplemented by the not so numerous paintings with motifs from the myths of antiquity. Above all, there are attribution problems with profane works, as there are usually no contemporary documents for these works that could prove their authorship. Works ascribed to him can be found in the Louvre, Paris ('Madonna with the Child', ca.1624), in the Museum of Art, Marguette University, Milwaukee, Wis. ('Tre puttini feriti', approx. 1620), Museo Poldi Pezzoli , Milan ('Madonna with the Child and St. Anthony of Padua'), Musei Civici di Reggio Emilia, Reggio Emilia ('Temptation of St. Thomas Aquinas ', c. 1635), private collection, Milan (' Mars teaches Amor to read '), Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan (' Virgin with the Child and St. Lawrence, St. Nicholas and St. Francesca of Rome '), Fondazione Rossini, Pesaro ('Death of Adonis').
student
Like all established artists of his time, Francesco Gessi had set up a workshop in which many artists worked over the years, but few of whom are known. They came to his workshop either as young trainees or as trained - but not equal - artists and worked under his direction. Some of the artists who worked for him were Giovanni Battista Ruggieri (also called Battistino del Gessi) and his brother Ercolino, Gabrieli Ferrantini and Andrea Seghezzi.
literature
- Emilio Negro: Gessi, Francesco . In: General Artist Lexicon . The visual artists of all times and peoples (AKL). Volume 52, Saur, Munich a. a. 2006, ISBN 3-598-22792-2 , p. 363.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Jörg Martin Merz: Reni, Guido. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 16, Bautz, Herzberg 1999, ISBN 3-88309-079-4 , Sp. 1339-1358.
- ↑ An Italian news source with photos: http://www.oltremagazine.com/index.html?id_articolo=792
- ↑ Some of these sources are: "Vite dei pittori ed artefici bolognesi", Marchese Antonio Bolognini Amorini, Bologna 1840–1843 and Carlo Cesare Malvasia, "Felsina pittrice", 1678
- ↑ on this see "La pittura in Emilia e in Romagna", Milan 1994, 2 volumes, especially volume 1, "L'eridite di Guido Reni", pp. 185-207
- ↑ Saur - General Artist Lexicon, Volume 52 - Lim. v. G. Meißner, K. Saur Verlag, Munich
- ↑ On this issue, especially with regard to Guido Reni's canon of works and its extraordinarily large workshop, see: "the divine Guido - Religion, Sex, Money and Art in the world of Guido Reni", Richard E. Spear, Yale University Press, 1997
- ↑ Here is an example with some photos of the works http://fe.fondazionezeri.unibo.it/catalogo/ricerca.jsp?decorator=layout&apply=true&percorso_ricerca=OA&tipo_ricerca=avanzata&mod_AUTN_OA=esatto&AUTN_+Foni_Ocesi=AUTN_OA_Ocesi=AUTN_OA_Oces
- ↑ For this see: Vite dei pittori ed artefici bolognesi , Marchese Antonio Bolognini Amorini, Bologna 1840–1843.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gessi, Francesco |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Gessi, Giovan Francesco (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Italian Baroque painter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 20, 1588 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Bologna |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 15, 1649 |
| Place of death | Bologna |