Antonio Balestra

Antonio Balestra ( born August 12, 1666 Verona, † April 21, 1740 ) was an Italian painter, draftsman and engraver of the Baroque.

Balestra was the son of a wealthy merchant and studied the humanities, such as literature and rhetoric, but also had drawing lessons with Giovanni Zeffis (died 1688). He was from 1687 in Venice, where he was three years a pupil of Antonio Bellucci ( 1654-1726 ). In 1691, he went to Rome in the studio of Carlo Maratta, whose late Baroque classicism also influenced his painting. Other influences in Rome Annibale Carracci and Domenichino were. In 1694 he won a prize in the competition of the Accademia di San Luca for subscription The Fall of the Giants. In 1695 he was back in his hometown of Verona, where he founded his own school, but he also worked in Venice and there had students.

Among his pupils in Verona include Pietro Rotari and Giambettino Cignaroli in Venice Giuseppe Nogari, Mattia Bortoloni, Angelo Trevisani, Rosalba Carriera and he also influenced Pietro Longhi, who briefly worked with him, and Giambattista Pittoni.

Balestra mainly painted mythological and religious subjects. In Venice he painted for the churches Gesuiti ( Jesuit Church, Madonna with Saints ) and San Zaccaria and the Scuola della Carita. In Bologna he painted for the church of Sant Ignazio ( Virgin and Child with St. Ignatius and St. Stanislaus ), and he also painted for churches in Verona ( Church of San Teresa degli Scalzi, proclamation ), Vicenza, Brescia and Padua (San Giustino, wonder of Saints Cosmas and Damian ).

An autobiographical manuscript in the Biblioteca Augusta in Perugia ( Manoscritto autobiografico Inviato all Abate Antonio Pellegrino ).