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Description: | Unlike his contemporaries Antonio Pellegrini (1765-1741) or Jacopo Amigoni (1682-1752), who travelled abroad to fulfil their commissions, Giovanni Battista Pittoni lived and worked in Venice. He trained with his uncle, Francesco, but soon developed and ran a successful independent workshop of international repute. His pictures from the 1720s onwards were made with a light nervous touch and a vibrant Rococo palette, called §too beautiful§ by the French critic Cochin. They reveal the influence of Sebastiano Ricci (1659-1734) and the young Giambattista Tiepolo (1696-1770), with whom Pittoni would remain associated by his contemporaries, along side Giambattista Piazzetta (1683-1754), as one of the leading lights of Venetian eighteenth century art. The Southampton picture of the Sacrifice of Jephthah's Daughter was probably painted in the early 1730s and is a fine example of the artist's work. The subject is taken from the Old Testament (Judges 11:20-30) and shows the warrior Jephthah about to sacrifice his daughter who is shown dressed in white and kneeling at the burning altar at the top of the stairs. This tragic event was to be understood as an example of filial obedience, and obedience to God. Jephtah, on the eve of the battle against the Ammonites had made a pact with God that if the Israelites were victorious he would sacrifice §the first creature that comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return§. As Providence would have it, it was his only daughter. Pittoni's animated depiction of the event effectively captures the drama of this historical narrative without descending into over sentimentality, while the contrast between the grand classicising architectural setting and the oriental dress of the priests presiding over the sacrifice provides further narrative tension. | Subjects: | religion (Jephthah's daughter) | Source: | Vads | Creator: | Artist: Pittoni, Giovanni Battista, the younger (Italian painter and draftsman, 1687-1767) Æ | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=8404... | Go to resource |
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