| Carpioni was a prolific painter whose charming bacchanales and bucolic subject matter form an important link between the work of Titian and that of Boucher. Carpioni was born and trained in Venice his birthdate is generally accepted as 1611 although it is sometimes cited as 1613. His date and place of death are less certain, with scholars debating over 1674 and 1678 as the years and Vicenza and Verona as the place. After training with Varotari,also known as Padovanino, Carpioni had moved to Vicenza by 1638 and supported himself with commissions from local churches and the nobility. He was also active in Verona. Among his documented commissions there is his lunette with an Apotheosis of Vicenzo Dolfin done in 1647 for the Palazzo del Podesta in Vicenza. His religious works, such as his Crucifixion 1648, Venice, Academia, used a summery treatment of forms, and a limited setting to achieve a serious, meditative mood. Less successful are dry exercises such as his Immaculata Udine, Chiesa del Cappucdni. His preferred subject was mythology, which he executed with a lightness of palette, a gaiety of interpretation, and a charming decorativeness that was unique among baroque paintings of the period. Using Titian as his source, Carpioni created a crowded, if more schematic, vision of arcadia as exemplified by his Bacchanale, Columbia, SC, Museum of Art, Kress Collection. His style, consisting of sensuously conceived fleshy figures, warmly lit and defined by characteristic outlines, changed little throughout his life.A development can be traced from his earlier responses to Fetti toward an attenuated, elongated figure type later on. Numerous small scale, cabinet sized pictures survive, many of them still in private hands. |
