Old Masters Day Sale

Giovanni Battista Piazzetta

The Martyrdom of Saint James

Lot Closed

July 8, 02:35 PM GMT

Estimate

20,000 - 30,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

Giovanni Battista Piazzetta

Venice 1682 - 1754

The Martyrdom of Saint James

oil on canvas, unlined, unframed

43.5 x 33.6 cm.; 17⅛ x 13¼ in.

Italico Brass, Venice;
Thence by descent.

G. Rosenthal, From El Greco to Pollock: early and late works by European and American artists, Baltimore 1968, p. 57;
R. Pallucchini and A. Mariuz, L’opera completa del Piazzetta, Milan 1982, p. 84, cat. no. 34, reproduced p. 83.

This canvas is the bozzetto for Piazzetta's Martyrdom of Saint James in the Church of San Stae, Venice.¹The finished painting was part of a cycle of twelve commissioned by Andrea Stazio for the Church of San Stae. Stazio commissioned twelve Venetian painters to each depict one episode in the lives of the Apostles.² The cycle was completed between 1722-23.

¹https://www.wga.hu/html_m/p/piazzett/giovanni/st_james.html

² In alphabetical order: Antonio Balestra, Nicolò Bambini, Gregorio Lazzarini, Silvestro Manaigo, Giambattista Mariotti, Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini, Giambattista Piazzetta, Giambattista Pittoni, Sebastiano Ricci, Giambattista Tiepolo, Angelo Trevisano and Pietro Uberti.