Antonio Gherardi
Encyclopedia
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
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, architect, and sculptor (stucco
Stucco
Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...
ist) of the Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
style, active mainly in and near Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
and his native city of Rieti
Rieti
Rieti is a city and comune in Lazio, central Italy, with a population of c. 47,700. It is the capital of province of Rieti.The town centre rests on a small hilltop, commanding a wide plain at the southern edge of an ancient lake. The area is now the fertile basin of the Velino River...
.
His original name was Antonio Tatoti, but when he moved to Rome (c. 1656) from Rieti, he changed his surname. His father died when he was only eight years old, and in 1656, Monsignor Bulgarino Bulgarini, Governor of Rieti, became his patron. Two years later Bulgarini sponsored his travel to Rome, and introduced him to his future mentors, Pier Francesco Mola
Pier Francesco Mola
Pier Francesco Mola was an Italian painter of the High Baroque, mainly active around Rome.-Biography:Mola was born at Coldrerio . At the age of four, he moved to Rome with his father Giovanni Battista, a painter...
and Pietro da Cortona
Pietro da Cortona
Pietro da Cortona, by the name of Pietro Berrettini, born Pietro Berrettini da Cortona, was the leading Italian Baroque painter of his time and also one of the key architects in the emergence of Roman Baroque architecture. He was also an important decorator...
. In the large workshops organized by the latter, he developed skills in both painting and stucco decoration. In 1674, he joined 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...
.
Although he did not build much, Gherardi's mature architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
is extraordinarily inventive. Designed in a late Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
manner, he drew freely on forms and ideas of Bernini
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Gian Lorenzo Bernini was an Italian artist who worked principally in Rome. He was the leading sculptor of his age and also a prominent architect...
, Borromini
Francesco Borromini
Francesco Borromini, byname of Francesco Castelli was an architect from Ticino who, with his contemporaries, Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Pietro da Cortona, was a leading figure in the emergence of Roman Baroque architecture.A keen student of the architecture of Michelangelo and the ruins of...
and Cortona to make his inventions. The best examples of his work can be seen in the Santa Cecilia Chapel, San Carlo ai Catinari
San Carlo ai Catinari
San Carlo ai Catinari, also called Santi Biagio e Carlo ai Catinari is an early-Baroque style church in Rome, Italy....
and the Avila Chapel, Santa Maria in Trastevere
Santa Maria in Trastevere
The Basilica of Our Lady in Trastevere is a titular minor basilica, one of the oldest churches in Rome, and perhaps the first in which mass was openly celebrated...
, both in Rome.
In 1698 he was appointed architect and painter of the chapel of Santa Teresa in Santa Maria in Traspontina, which still preserves a painting of her hand with the Ecstasy of Santa Teresa .
Among his works are
- The decoration of the vault of Santa Maria in TrivioSanta Maria in TrivioSanta Maria in Trivio is a church in Rome. It is dedicated to Mary, mother of Jesus, and is located on Piazza dei Crociferi in rione Trevi.In 1571 the church was given to the Order of the Crociferi. Between 1573 and 1575 the architect Giacomo del Duca rebuilt the church, designing e.g. the...
, Scenes from the Life of the Virgin, (1668-1670) - Birth of the Virgin in the Duomo of GubbioGubbioGubbio is a town and comune in the far northeastern part of the Italian province of Perugia . It is located on the lowest slope of Mt. Ingino, a small mountain of the Apennines. See also Mount Ingino Christmas Tree.-History:...
- Death of Blessed Francesco (1675) and architecture, Chapel of the Blessed Francesco Solano in Santa Maria in AracoeliSanta Maria in AracoeliThe Basilica of St. Mary of the Altar of Heaven is a titular basilica in Rome, located on the highest summit of the Campidoglio. It is still the designated Church of the city council of Rome, which uses the ancient title of Senatus Populusque Romanus...
, Rome). - Education of the Virgin (c. 1675, 2nd chapel on left of Duomo of Poggio MirtetoPoggio MirtetoPoggio Mirteto is a comune in the province of Rieti in the Italian region Latium, about 45 km northeast of Rome and about 20 km southwest of Rieti, situated on a height by the River Sole, in a fertile region, where pot-herbs, cereals, grapes and pastures are cultivated, and where...
). - Holy family with young John the Baptist, (c. 1675, Duomo of MonterotondoMonterotondo-History:According to some historians, Monterotondo is the heir of ancient Sabine town of Eretum, although the modern settlement appeared in the 10th-11th centuries in a different location...
). - Scenes from the Life of Esther, (1673-1674, Palazzo Naro, Rome)
- Crucifixion, (1674-1686, Santi Claudio e Andrea dei BorgognoniSanti Claudio e Andrea dei BorgognoniThe Church of SS. Claudius and Andrew of the Burgundians is a Roman Catholic church dedicated to Saint Claudius of Besançon and the apostle Saint Andrew. It is one of the national churches in Rome dedicated to France...
, Rome, lost). - Vision of S. Filippo Neri & S. Camillo de Lellis heals dying Crescenzi family member, (1677, sacristy, Santa Maria in Trivio).
- Stucco for main altar (1677, Santa Maria in Trivio).
- The miracle of Holy Shroud & Christ lying on Shroud with Donors from House of Savoy and Sts. Massimo & Maurizio, Blessed Amedeo, Margherita & Ludovica, (1680-1682, Altarpiece, Santissimo Sudario dei Piemontesi; payment 140 scudi).
- Saint Jerome penitent in desert, (1680, painted to substitute for painting by Durante AlbertiDurante AlbertiDurante Alberti was an Italian painter of the late-Renaissance period.He was born in Borgo San Sepolcro. He was active mainly in his native town and Rome, where he arrived during the papacy of Gregory XIII. He was also called Durante del Nero. His father was Romano Alberti. His son Pierfrancesco...
) and the architecture of the Avila chapel in Santa Maria in TrastevereSanta Maria in TrastevereThe Basilica of Our Lady in Trastevere is a titular minor basilica, one of the oldest churches in Rome, and perhaps the first in which mass was openly celebrated... - Santa Cecilia (1692) and the architecture of the Santa Cecilia Chapel (1695-1700) in San Carlo ai CatinariSan Carlo ai CatinariSan Carlo ai Catinari, also called Santi Biagio e Carlo ai Catinari is an early-Baroque style church in Rome, Italy....
- Ecstasy of Saint Theresa (1698, Santa Maria in TraspontinaSanta Maria in TraspontinaSanta Maria in Traspontina is a Carmelite church in Rome, Italy.The shrine lies on the Via della Conciliazione, the main road of the Rione Borgo....
, Rome). - Immaculate Conception for church of Sant'Antonio al Monte, RietiRietiRieti is a city and comune in Lazio, central Italy, with a population of c. 47,700. It is the capital of province of Rieti.The town centre rests on a small hilltop, commanding a wide plain at the southern edge of an ancient lake. The area is now the fertile basin of the Velino River...
. - Ephemeral funerary decorations for Alfonso di Portugal in Sant'Antonio dei Portoghesi, also others to celebrate the extirpation of Calvinism in France.