Andrea Celesti

Andrea Celesti (1637–1712) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, working in Venice. His style gravitated over the years from a turgid and academic weightiness to a lighter, looser brushstroke.

Biography

Celesti was born in Venice and is buried in

Toscolano

.

He first trained with

Fraglia

or guild of Venetian painters.

Legend holds Celesti, after a yearly public exhibition in the piazza San Marco, had to flee Venice when he angered Doge Contarini, when he displayed the Doge with a donkey’s ears of a donkey. He was then protected by his future patron Scipione Delaj and relocated inland. In about 1685, after some painting in Rovigo, he established a studio in Brescia.

For the Delaj family, starting in 1688, Celesti and his studio began painting a series of religious canvases for the Cathedral of Peter and Paul in

Toscolano on the shores of Lake Garda

. The initial canvases included the Vocation of Paul and Andrew, St Paul liberated from prison, the Death of Simon Magus, the Keys given to St Peter, a Martyrdom of Saints, the Miraculous Draught of Fishes, St Peter heals the sick. He painted the canvases of the presbytery, including an Annunciation, Adoration by Magi and Adoration by the Shepherds. In 1700, he returned to Toscolano to paint a Massacre of the Innocents for the space behind the facade. In 1708, he returned to paint for the chorus, Evangelists in the lunettes and an Exaltation of the Eucharist.

He also painted canvases for the church of

Villa Bettoni

in Gargnano.

In 1689 he decorated a room in the palazzo Delay.

Desenzano. By 1700 Celesti was back in Venice, where he set up his studio. He painted frescoes for Villa Rinaldi Barbini (1705–07).^[4] For the Basilica di San Lorenzo in Verolanuova

, Celesti Painted a Birth of the Virgin and an Assumption (c. 1707).

Andrea Celesti’s pupil included Albert Calvetti^[5] and Angelo Trevisani. His son, Stefano Celesti was also a painter.

Paintings

Religious subjects

Madonna and Child with Saints Anne, Joachim, and Benedict, c. 1693
Virgin of the Grapes, c. 1690
Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, c. 1710
Queen Jezebel being punished by Jehu, c. 1650
King David playing the Zither, .c 1650
The Virgin and Child with the Infant St John Appearing to St Jerome and St Anthony, c. 1700
Moses saved from the water, c. 1700
The Holy Family, c. 1690-1700

Mythological subjects

Hercules and Omphale, c. 1670
Death of King Priam, c. 1706

Portraits

Portrait of Military Commander I, c. 1600s
Portrait of Military Commander II, c. 1600s

References

Pignatti, Terisio (1956). "Andrea Celesti". The Burlington Magazine: 383.
Work in Brescia.

External links

For a Picture of Saint Cecilia attended by Angels. is a poem by Felicia Hemans in The Winter's Wreath annual for 1831 accompanying an engraving by John Henry Robinson of Celesti's painting, Saint Cecilia attended by Angels.

Notes

^ Inscribed K.A.C.P.F. for Kavaliere Andrea Celesti (painter of fame)
^ Although he settled in Brescia in 1685.
^ Palazzo Delay is near Toscolano and today called Palazzo Mafizzoli
^ Frescoes at the villa at Casella d'Asolo are partially degraded.
^ *Hobbes, James R. (1849). Picture collector's manual adapted to the professional man, and the amateur. London: T&W Boone. p. 48.

[1] Inscribed K.A.C.P.F. for Kavaliere Andrea Celesti (painter of fame)

[2] Although he settled in Brescia in 1685.

[3] Palazzo Delay is near Toscolano and today called Palazzo Mafizzoli

[4] Frescoes at the villa at Casella d'Asolo are partially degraded.

[5] *Hobbes, James R. (1849). Picture collector's manual adapted to the professional man, and the amateur. London: T&W Boone. p. 48.

[4]

[5]

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