| One of the most fertile geniuses among the decorative painters in Lombardy, Giovanni Battista Carlone has descended into unjustified obscurity. His exuberant decorations fill the churches and palaces of Northern Italy, displaying a spectacular color sense and a fine sense of drawing. He belonged to a painter family that included his father Taddeo, his brother, Giovanni Antonio, and his sons Giovanni Andrea,and Niccold. After studying with his father, Giambattista trained in Florence,with Passignano,and in Rome. Active mainly in Genoa, Carlone collaborated with his brother on the decorations for SS. Annunziata and finished his brother's frescoes for the church of S. Antonio in Milanin 1630. Gambattista also aimed in the Gesu, the chapel of the Palazzo Ducale (1655), and the vault of the church of San Sird (1652-70). During the last years of his life he was probably a court painter to the Dukes of Savoy in Turin. Giambattista's style is derived from his brother's, but it evolved into a personal approach that was particularly attractive for its rich coloration, its lean attenuated figures often with rather pinched features, and its carefully observed natural details. The forty year span of his activity showed little change in his approach, having proven itself eminently suitable to large scale fresco decorations for the churches and palaces that were his main occupation. In 1646-47 Giambattista painted what many consider his masterpiece, his scenes from the Life of St. James Oratory of S. Giacomo della Marina. He was an important influence on eighteenth-century painting. |
