Gian Pietro Bellori

Giovanni Pietro Bellori (* January 15, 1613 in Rome, † February 19, 1696 ) was an Italian antiquarian, librarian, art and antique collectors, art theorist and art historian.

Life and work

Well since 1632 Bellori was assistant to the collector and writer Francesco Angeloni ( 1587-1652 ), with whom he was closely associated for over twenty years and has, as it accepted him as a son. He has used it as his sole heir, but his relatives had a dispute with some success, which is why Bellori received only the house, but the collection was squandered. He probably studied with Domenichino painting but be distracted by other studies. Contemporaries such as Giuseppe Ghezzi (1634-1721) regarded him as a painter. In 1652 he was first secretary of the Accademia di San Luca and several times re-elected, in 1670 he was appointed by Clement X to the superintendent of antiquities in Rome ( Commissario delle Antichità ), 1694 he resigned for health reasons in this office. To 1680 he was librarian of Queen Christina of Sweden, for which he was, however, already been previously employed.

Fragmenta only one signed by him drawing is obtained, a small landscape in the collection Scherzo dei paesi of Giuseppe Canini, whose style he mimics a large extent. However, he worked as a consultant by artists. So he designed for the ceiling fresco in the Palazzo Altieri Allegory of clemency in Rome, which was run by his friend, the painter Carlo Maratta, the image program.

Bellori was one of the first art theorist who was not even predominantly artists. His book about the lives of contemporary artists, in which he writes among other things, Poussin, Carracci, Rubens and Caravaggio, is a rich and important source of 17th century art in Rome. In 1693 he published a book on Roman antiquities, which is still used as a source for the archeology.

Bellori was an advocate of classicism in art, the principles of which he saw embodied in the works of Carracci, Maratta, and especially in the pictures Poussin. In the works of Mannerist artist, he saw an unfortunate aberration of art. Likewise, he had little understanding of Caravaggio, whose work with its deliberate violations against Decorum and outdated formal rules, he refused vehemently.

Art Theory

After Bellori an artist's work is spiritual work in the first place, and he fought with all means the writer for an appreciation of the artistic profession. As Vasari, he pointed to the draft, the disegno, a prominent role, as they accompanied the artistic process at all stages. A central concept of his theory of art is the idea of beauty. The Artist wins the idea from the contemplation of nature, with intuition - in the sense of Poussin - does not mean the simple vision as natural process, but an act and a power of the mind is. His idea - concept is derived from Platonic and Aristotelian ideas. Exemplary for him were ancient artist, as they are passed down through the description of Pliny, especially the painter Zeuxis. Zeuxis operation is here exemplary for an artist who selects from nature the most beautiful elements to compose the ideal of a perfect beauty of it. From the artist Bellori calls a " middle balance between natural and imitation of nature overcoming " ( Panofsky ).

Bellori is in contrast to a Mannerist art theory, as it is represented by Giovanni Paolo Lomazzo and Federico Zuccaro, for which the artistic idea of divine origin.

Bellori art theory was of considerable influence on Johann Joachim Winckelmann and the Academy in France.

Awards

Writings (selection )

• Scelta de madaglioni piu rari nella Bibliotheca del principe .. Gasparo Carpegna. 1672.
• Le vite de ' pittori, Scultori et architetti modernized. Success. al Mascardi, Rome 1672 ( digitized ); 1728 ( digitized version of the Heidelberg University Library: urn: nbn: de: bsz :16- diglit - 113660 ); 1821; Anastatica, Rome 1931 ( facsimile ). The lives of the modern painters, sculptors, and architects. A new translation and critical edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2005, ISBN 0-521-78187-6.