Domenico Maria Canuti
(1626 - 1684) |
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Altarpieces, Fresco Commission Art Work
| Name: |
Domenico Maria Canuti |
| Gender: |
Male |
| Place of Birth: |
Bologna |
| Nationality: |
Italian |
| Birth: |
1626 |
| Death: |
1684 |
| Website: |
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| Past Auctions: |
Click Here |
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Quick Facts
| Known For: |
Altarpieces, Fresco Commission |
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| Method: |
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| Style: |
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| Fine Art Profession(s): |
Painter
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Biography
| Canuti contributed significantly to the development of later Bolognese ceiling painting. After brief stints with several painters including Bertusio, Reni, Guercino, Albani, and G. A. Sirani, Canuti later studied with Lanfranco in Rome, around 1646, and befriended the sculptor Algardi, who turned his attention to Pietro da Cortona. Some scholars simply designate Canuti as a Reni pupil, a connection which seems to have come about through the intervention of the Olivetan Abbot Pepoli, with whom Canuti maintained a lifelong association. Around 1651 Canuti returned to Bologna where Abbot Pepoli found him commissions. Concentrating mainly on large scale decorative projects for which his talents were especially suited, Canuti produced frescoes for the Hall of the Palazzo Pubblico of Bologna Canuti also produced numerous altarpieces and frescoes for the Bolognese churches, of which the Madonna with SL Bernardino dated 1661, Bologna, S. Francesco is noteworthy. Correggio and Gaulli have been cited as important influences on these works. Between 1663 and 1668 Canuti was in Padua decorating the Olivetan church of S. Benedetto Novello with an altarpiece depicting the Virgin with St. Bernardo Tolomei, and six pictures of the life of the saint. The year 1666 saw Cantui in Mantua, where fragments of his work remain in the church of S. Pietro. Canuti's decorations for the Palazzo Pepoli, including the ceiling of the grand staircase 1665 and the later ceiling of its Grand Salone representing Hercules in Olympus 1669, are among his masterpieces. He also painted ceiling and wall decorations for the Palazzo Fibbia later known as Fabri. Often the quadratura work for these decorations was carried out by Canuti's pupil, Enrico Haffner. In 1672 Canuti arrived again in Rome and was inscribed as a member of the Academy of St. Luke. Between 1674-75 he worked on the ceiling fresco for the church of SS. Domenico e Sisto and on commissions for the Palazzo Colonna and Palazzo Altieri. Letters to Malvasia from Canuti in Rome survive from 1676. In 1677 Canuti must have returned to Bologna with the copy he had made of Guido Reni's Magdalen Rome, Palazzo Barberini. This he gave over to the Cloister of S. Michele in Bosco, where he planned to be buried. Before and after his Roman sojourn Canuti was active, working for the aforenamed Olivetan monastery and church, decorating various rooms. From 1677 until his death,Canuti continued to work there, producing elaborate projects for the library and cupola of S. Michele, again undertaken at the behest of his lifelong patron, the Abbot Taddeo Pepoli 1605-84. In the cloister, he produced the decoration for the cupola of the choir for the Abbot Prati between 1682 and 1684. Canuti was also active as an etcher and a draughtsman. His bold, vigorous drawings are today valued for their original, emotive quality. Exhibiting a trenchant sense of form, his dynamic compositions use large shapes to dominate the foreground, while the background often has rhythmically arranged repeated shapes which lend an energy and sense of motion to Canuti's expressive images. Canuti achieved great fame in his own day. |
Samples of Work
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