1048 - Antonio Bellucci

Antonio Bellucci The Triumph of Galatea (Allegory of Water) Oil on canvas. 127 x 160 cm. Provenance Private collection, Southern Germany. Antonio Bellucci, a native of the Venetian mainland, is considered one of the leading painters in Venice in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. His elegant style in the tradition of Veronese attracted considerable interest far beyond the confines of the lagoon city. This was followed by an extensive international career, a path later pursued by artists of the next generation such as Sebastiano Ricci, Giambattista Tiepolo and Giovanni Battista Pittoni. From 1702 to 1704 Antonio Bellucci was in Vienna in the service of Prince Johann Adam Andreas I of Liechtenstein, for whom he created a series of large ceiling paintings in oil on canvas. They rank among his finest works. In 1705 and 1706 he was active in Düsseldorf, where he executed extensive decorations for Schloss Bensberg for the Elector Palatine Johann Wilhelm. In 1709 he was summoned to the imperial court in Vienna. Back in Germany, he produced works for Schloss Weissenstein in Pommersfelden on behalf of Archbishop Lothar Franz von Schönborn. Before returning to Venice in 1722, he spent time in England, where he carried out ceiling and wall paintings for the Duke of Chandos. We would like to thank Professor Bernard Aikema, Venice, for attributing this previously unknown large-scale work to Antonio Bellucci.