From Barochetto to the Gandolfi
The important innovations brought by Ferdinando Galli Bibiena had sizeable repercussions on bolognese paintings, as made evident by the role played by architecture in works such as The Allegorical Grave of Lord Torrington by Donato Creti, painted with Carlo Besoli and Nunzio Ferrajoli, or The Feast of Balthazar and Solomon incenses the idols by Vittorio Maria Bigari. Starting in the second quarter of the 18th century, the emphasis of the baroque era made way for a thorough and elegant style where the artifice of the compositions blends in with the light beauty of the figures. The Barochetto was practiced by painters, modellers and architects sharing a pleasantly decorative language. A new kind of grace and a laid-back style are the tell-tale sign of Vittorio Bigari’s paintings, with a candy-like chromatic range but also that of Giuseppe Varotti or Angelo Piò’s graceful terracotta sculptures.
While the international relations of the University and Academy kept growing, a new period starts for Bologna with the Gandolfi brothers. Ubaldo, (1728-1781) the eldest, had a slower artistic maturation, Gaetano (1734-1802) immediately knew great success, including his terracotta works. His lengthy stay in Venice in 1760 was instrumental in his journey, allowing him direct knowledge of Piazzetta’s and even more importantly Tiepolo’s works. In Ulysses frees himself from Circe’s spell thanks to Mercury (1766) the shapes are brought to life by the colors and appear to dissolve into the rosy lighting. In later works his ability to improve from initial drawings to sketches to the final work is the true testimony to his creative power. Ubaldo instead links his journey to Ludovico Carracci’s models from the start and brings attention to himself by the emotional weight behind each painting. The Gandolfi brothers dedicated themselves to character studies set in small frameworks where they sometimes include depictions of their friends and relatives : the trust visible in each and every eye seems an evocation of the right to happinness theorized by Rousseau in Émile (1762). In the sculpture field, the classicist shift operated by Gaetano matches the olympian and stern ambiance of Petronio Tadolini and Giacomo De Maria.