Vito D'Anna

Vito D'Anna: self-portrait; Oil on canvas, 70 × 56 cm, 1763, Biblioteca e pinacoteca Zelantea, Acireale

Vito D'Anna (* 14. October 1718 in Palermo ; † 13. October 1769 ibid) was one of the most important painters of the Rococo in Sicily . He was the son-in-law of Olivio Sozzi and the brother-in-law of Francesco Sozzi (1732–1795). His son was the painter Alessandro D'Anna (1746–1810).

Life

He was born the son of Giuseppe D'Anna and Rosalia Coppolino. At the age of 17 he began an apprenticeship on January 13, 1736 in the workshop of the painter Pietro Paolo Vasta in Acireale , a typical representative of the Neapolitan Baroque in Rome , whose main representatives were Sebastiano Conca and Corrado Giaquinto . In 1744 he returned to Palermo, where he joined the most important painter of his time in Sicily, Olivio Sozzi . A short time later he married Aloisia, Sozzi's daughter. On the mediation of his father-in-law, Vito D'Anna went to Rome to the workshop of Corrado Giaquinto, who was a close friend of Olivio Sozzi. In 1751 he was back in Palermo and became one of the most sought-after painters of the nobility and clergy in Sicily. In 1765 he was honored with the title of Conte palatino and Cavaliere dell Speron d'Oro. He died in 1769 and found his final resting place in the Palermitan Chiesa di San Matteo al Cassaro. In the 19th century his remains were transferred to the Santa Maria cemetery.

Vito D'Anna was also a collector of drawings and graphics by Sicilian, Neapolitan and Roman artists, as well as copies of the painters Sebastiano Conca, Corrado Giaquinto, Luca Giordano , Carlo Maratta and Francesco Solimena . His art collection came to the Palermitan Baron Sgadari Lo Monaco via detours and is now kept in the Palazzo Abatellis (Palermo).

Four children of Vito D'Anna and Aloisia Sozzi are documented: Alessandro, born in 1746, Olivo, Pietro and Rosalia (* 1756). Alessandro joined his father's workshop early on, as did Rosalia, who was one of Vito's favorite models. After her father's death, Rosalia continued her artistic training with her brother Alessandro D'Anna.

Artistic activity

D'Anna created his main works for churches and palaces in Palermo. In 1760 he was commissioned by Count Isnello to create an allegorical fresco “Glorification of Palermo” in the ballroom of his palazzo in Palermo. One of the most impressive works of art of the 18th century with profane content was created all over Sicily.

From 1763 to 1765 he created a cycle of frescoes in the dome of the Chiesa del Santissimo Salvatore in Palermo. During this time, a tuberculosis disease that he had contracted years ago worsened , so that he had to have the work completed by his colleagues Vito Coppolino, Giuseppe Testa and Antonio Manno .

In 1765 he painted again together with Olivio and Francesco Sozzi on frescoes in the Assumption Chapel of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore of Ispica , in which Olivio Sozzi died on October 31 by falling from the scaffolding. Due to his illness, D'Anna was no longer able to cope with the strenuous work under church ceilings. In the last four years of his life, only a few panel paintings were made.

Works

• Chiesa di Santa Maria della Neve ( Acireale ): painting “The Nativity” (1744)
• Chiesa di Santa Caterina (Palermo): dome fresco Apotheosis of S. Domenicus and other saints (1751)
• Palazzo Benenati Ventimiglia (Palermo): Fresco “Triumph of Minerva” and “Allegory of Virtue” (1751)
• Chiesa dei Tre Re (Palermo): Ceiling fresco “Triumph of the Holy Three Kings” and frescoes on the apse walls “Baptism of Hamilcar” and “Martyrdom of Belshazzar” (1751/52)
• Oratorio di San Filippo Neri ( Motta d'Affermo ): Altarpiece “Ecstasy of S. Filippo Neri” (1752)
• Chiesa dell'Immacolata Concezione ( Serradifalco ): painting “St. Judas Taddäus ”and“ SS. Ignazio of Loyola and Francesco Saverio ”
• Chiesa San Nicolò - Santissimo Salvatore ( Militello in Val di Catania ): Altarpiece “Sermon of St. Nicholas”
• Palazzo Isnello (Palermo): Allegorical fresco in the ballroom Glorification of Palermo (1760)
• Palazzo Alliata di Pietratagliata : frescoes in the ballroom “Triumph of the prince surrounded by virtues” (1762).
• Villa Resuttana (Palermo): frescoes in the ballroom “Glorification of the Princes of Resuttana” (1762)
• Chiesa del Santissimo Salvatore (Palermo): frescoes in the atrium “Glorie des S. Basile” (1763–65).
• Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore (Ispica): main altarpiece “Mary, Child and Saint” (1768)

Collaborative Works and Attributed Works

• Chiesa di San Matteo (Palermo): Fresco “Allegorical Female Figures” (1758, together with Francesco Sozzi)
• Palazzo Alliata di Pietratagliata (Palermo): frescoes in the red salon (sala da pranzo) “Scientific virtue of the prince” (1762, together with Francesco Sozzi)
• Palazzo Isnello (Palermo): ceiling fresco “Annunciation of S. Rosalia” (1760, attributed).

Destroyed works

• Secured fresco fragment from Palazzo Airoldi (Palermo) “Allegory of Abundance” (1758), now in the Palazzo Abatellis in Palermo.
• "Triumph of the arts and sciences" fresco destroyed in the Second World War in Palazzo Castelluccio in Palermo.

drawings

• Design drawing for the frescoes in the ballroom of Palazzo Isnello (Palermo, art market)
• Studies for the fresco "Triumph of Virtues" in Palazzo Benenati (Palermo, Palazzo Abatellis)

literature

• Giuliano Briganti (Ed.): La Pittura in Italia. Il Settecento. 2 volumes. Riedizione accresciuta e aggiornata. Electa, Milano 1990, ISBN 88-435-3279-0 .
• Enrico Mauceri : Anna, Vito d ' . In: Ulrich Thieme , Felix Becker (Hrsg.): General Lexicon of Fine Artists from Antiquity to the Present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker. tape 1 : Aa – Antonio de Miraguel . Wilhelm Engelmann, Leipzig 1907, p. 530 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
• Maria Grazia Paolini:  D'Anna, Vito. In: Massimiliano Pavan (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 32:  Dall'Anconata – Da Ronco. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1986.
• Lazzaro di Giovanni: Le opere d'arte nelle chiese di Palermo (= Siciliana. Vol. 24). Flaccovio, Palermo 2000, ISBN 88-7804-179-3 .
• Mariny Guttilla (Ed.): Mirabile artificio. Pittura religiosa in Sicilia dal XV al XIX secolo. Kalós, Palermo 2006, ISBN 88-89224-27-4 .
• Mariny Guttilla (Ed.): Il Settecento e il suo doppio. Rococò e Neoclassicismo, styles and tendencies europee nella Sicilia dei viceré. Kalós, Palermo 2008, ISBN 978-88-89224-67-0 .
• Renato Roli, Giancarlo Sestieri: I disegni italiani del Settecento. School of piemontese, lombarda, genovese, bolognese, tuscany, romana e napoletana. Libreria editrice Canova, Treviso 1981.
• Citti Siracusano: La pittura del Settecento in Sicilia. De Luca Editore, Roma 1986, ISBN 88-7813-001-X .
• Giulia Sommaria: Palazzi nobiliari di Palermo. Dario Flaccovio, Palermo 2004, ISBN 88-7758-598-6 .
• Sergio Troisi: Vito D'Anna. "... merita di esser chiamato il primo pittore della Siciliana" (= Kalós. Maestri Siciliani. No. 21, ZDB -ID 2164655-7 ). Edizioni Ariete, Palermo 1993.

Web links

Commons : Vito D'Anna  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Archivio biografico del Comune di Palermo (Italian) ( Memento of November 4, 2012 in the Internet Archive )