Antonio Balestra was an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 painter of the Rococo

Rococo

Rococo , also referred to as "Late Baroque", is an 18th-century style which developed as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry and became increasingly ornate, florid, and playful...

 period.

Born in Verona

Verona

Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...

, he first apprenticed there with Giovanni Zeffio. By 1690 he moved to Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

, where he worked for three years under Antonio Bellucci

Antonio Bellucci

Antonio Bellucci was an Italian painter of the Rococo period, who was best known for his work in England, Germany, and Austria. He was one of the many Venetian-trained artists of his time, including Ricci, Tiepolo, Amigoni, and others, who sought commissions north of Italy, providing patrons with...

, then moved to Bologna

Bologna

Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...

 and then to paint in Carlo Maratta

Carlo Maratta

Carlo Maratta or Maratti was an Italian painter, active mostly in Rome, and known principally for his classicizing paintings executed in a Late Baroque Classical manner. Although he is part of the classical tradition stemming from Raphael, he was not exempt from the influence of Baroque painting...

's workshop in Rome. In 1694, he won a prize from the Accademia di San Luca

Accademia di San Luca

The Accademia di San Luca, was founded in 1577 as an association of artists in Rome, under the directorship of Federico Zuccari, with the purpose of elevating the work of "artists", which included painters, sculptors and architects, above that of mere craftsmen. Other founders included Girolamo...

. He later painted both in Verona and Venice; although his influence was stronger in the mainland. His pupils in Verona were Pietro Rotari

Pietro Rotari

Pietro Antonio Rotari was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. Born in Verona, he led a peripatetic career, and died in St Petersburg, where he had traveled to paint for the Russian court....

 and Giambettino Cignaroli

Giambettino Cignaroli

Giambettino Cignaroli was an Italian painter of the Rococo and early Neoclassic period.He was born and died in Verona. He was a pupil of Santo Prunato and Antonio Balestra and active mostly in the area of the Veneto...

. In Venice, he painted for the churches of the I Gesuiti

I Gesuiti

The church of Santa Maria Assunta, known as I Gesuiti, is a religious building in Venice, in the sestiere of Cannaregio, in Campo dei Gesuiti, not far from the Fondamenta Nuove....

 and San Zaccaria, and the Scuola della Carita. Pietro Longhi

Pietro Longhi

Pietro Longhi was a Venetian painter of contemporary scenes of life.-Biography:Pietro Longhi was born in Venice in the parish of Saint Maria, first child of the silversmith Alessandro Falca and his wife, Antonia. He adopted the Longhi last name when he began to paint...

 briefly worked under Balestra. In Venice, other pupils or painters he influenced, included Mariotti, Giuseppe Nogari

Giuseppe Nogari

Giuseppe Nogari was a Venetian painter of the Rococo, where he painted mainly painted half-body portraits, either real or of historical and religious figures. They are striking for their emotional content, subdued decoration and coloration, and often display aged individuals in somewhat homely or...

, Mattia Bortoloni

Mattia Bortoloni

Mattia Bortoloni was an Italian painter of the Rococo period, mainly active in the area of Bergamo and Venice.Born in Canda, near Rovigo, he died in Bergamo. He trained with Antonio Balestra of Verona. Bortoloni painted the 104-panel fresco cycle at Villa Cornaro, a Palladian villa in Piombino...

 and Angelo Trevisani

Angelo Trevisani

Angelo Trevisani was an Italian painter of the late-Baroque, active mainly in Venice.He was born in Venice , the brother of Francesco Trevisani who was born in Capodistria, and who painted mainly in Rome under the patronage of cardinal Ottoboni. Angelo was a pupil of Andrea Celesti...

. Also he influenced a young Giambattista Pittoni

Giambattista Pittoni

Giambattista Pittoni was an Italian painter of the late-Baroque or Rococo period, active mainly in his native Venice....

.

In painting, Balestra was staid and reactionary. Wittkower quotes the distaste of Balestra in 1733 for the tendency of then-modern painters to deviate from enshrined standards of academic painting:
He painted a Virgin and Infant, with St. Ignatius and St. Stanislaus for the church of Sant' Ignazio at Bologna. He also painted for churches of Venice, Vicenza

Vicenza

Vicenza , a city in north-eastern Italy, is the capital of the eponymous province in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, straddling the Bacchiglione...

, Padua, Brescia

Brescia

Brescia is a city and comune in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, between the Mella and the Naviglio, with a population of around 197,000. It is the second largest city in Lombardy, after the capital, Milan...

, and Verona. In prints, he etched a Head of a Warrior, Virgin Mary and Infant in the Clouds, with St. Two Soldiers; Vignette, with two figures holding a Flag of Verona, and a Portrait of an Architect

External links

• Image of the Death of Abel