Giovanni Battista Cimaroli (1687–1771) was an Italian painter of rustic landscapes with farms, villas and graceful figures and
capricci of ruins and views of towns in the Veneto.[1]
Biography
He was born in
Salò on Lake Garda, not far from
Brescia. He studied under
Antonio Aureggio and later in Bologna with the landscape painter
Antonio Calza,[2] before moving to
Venice around 1713.[3] Cimaroli's rustic landscapes are reminiscent of the Arcadian scenes of
Francesco Zuccarelli,[4] influenced by a tradition of Lombardian realism.[5]
Cimaroli collaborated c. 1722–6, with
Canaletto (amongst other Venetian painters) on
Owen McSwiney's unusual Allegorical Tombs series, whose aim was to memorialize British worthies, the main sponsor being the
2nd Duke of Richmond.[6][7] Caneletto's vedute became the inspiration for Cimaroli's own topographical views of Venice, which until recently have often been concealed under misattributions to Canaletto.[3]
Important early patrons of Cimaroli were
Marshal Schulenberg,
Count Tessin of Sweden, and the British merchant and diplomat settled in Venice,
Joseph (Consul) Smith.[8] It was through the disposition of Consul Smith's art collection, hand-picked by Smith for
King George III,[9] that six landscapes by Cimaroli entered the
Royal Collection, of which three oval views survive.[10] Cimaroli, despite the esteem of contemporaries, was nearly forgotten until the mid-twentieth century,[9] but has undergone a revival of critical interest, typified by the publication of the first catalogue raisonné of his paintings.[3]
^Pellegrino, Antonio Orlandi; Pietro Guarienti (1753). Abecedario Pittorico del m.r.p. Giambatista Pasquali, Venice. p. 272.
^
abcSpadotto, Federica (2011). Giovan Battista Cimaroli, catalogo ragionato dei dipinti. Catalogue raisonné. Preface by Lionello Puppi. Rovigo: Minelliana. p. 315.
^Spadotto, Federica (2007). Francesco Zuccarelli. Catalogue raisonné. Preface by Filippo Pedrocco. Milan: Bruno Alfieri. p. 400.
^Spadotto, Federica (2009). 'Zuccarelli tra emuli, imitatori e copisti', p. 324–7. In L'impegno e la conoscenza: studi di storia dell'arte in onore di Egido Martina. Pedrocco, Filippo and Alberto Craievich, eds. Verona: Scripta edizioni.
^Haskell, Francis (1980). Patrons and Painters: A Study of the Relations between Italian Art and Society in the Age of the Baroque. Revised and Enlarged edition. Yale University Press. New Haven and London. Haskell lists Canaletto and Piazetta as collaborators with Cimaroli in the painting commemorating
Lord Somers;
Balestra and
Domenico and
Giuseppe Valeriana for William III; Canaletto and
Pittoni for
Archbishop Tillotson;
Paltronieri (il Mirandolese) and Pittoni for
Lord Dorset.
^Spadotto, Federica (2011). Spadotto clarifies Haskell to include D. Valeriani and an unknown Bolognese artist as collaborators with Cimaroli in regards to the painting of Lord Stanhope.
^
abWatson, F.J.B. (June 1953). "G.B. Cimaroli: A collaborator with Canaletto". The Burlington Magazine. XCV.
^Levey, Michael (1964). The Later Italian Pictures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen. London: The Phaidon Press.
References
Pellegrino, Antonio Orlandi; Pietro Guarienti (1753). Abecedario Pittorico del m.r.p. Giambatista Pasquali, Venice. p. 272.
Levey, Michael (1964). The Later Italian Pictures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen. London: The Phaidon Press.
Haskell, Francis (1980). Patrons and Painters: A Study of the Relations between Italian Art and Society in the Age of the Baroque. Revised and Enlarged edition. Yale University Press. New Haven and London.
Spadotto, Federica (2007). Francesco Zuccarelli. Catalogue raisonné. Preface by Filippo Pedrocco. Milan: Bruno Alfieri. p. 400.
Spadotto, Federica (2009). "Zuccarelli tra emuli, imitatori e copisti", p. 324–7. In L'impegno e la conoscenza: studi di storia dell'arte in onore di Egido Martina. Pedrocco, Filippo and Alberto Craievich, eds. Verona: Scripta edizioni.
Spadotto, Federica (2011). Giovan Battista Cimaroli, catalogo ragionato dei dipinti. Catalogue raisonné. Preface by Lionello Puppi. Rovigo: Minelliana. p. 315.