Bella Pittura: The Art of the Gandolfi

Denise C. Jakal is a architecture writer in Edmonton.

This exhibition catalogue is intended to provide a “summary of the
Gandolfi lives, their stylistic development and their place in
eighteenth-century Italian art.” Within these parameters, the authors
have succeeded admirably, contributing the first major reassessment of
the Gandolfi since Lidia Bianchi’s 1936 monograph.

The catalogue includes two essays. The first, by Mimi Cazort, briefly
summarizes the lives of Ubaldo, Gaetano, and Mauro Gandolfi, and traces
the stylistic development of their art. The second essay, by Italian
scholar Giovanna Perini, places the art of the Gandolfi in historical
context, examining the social, political, and economic upheaval that
characterized the later 18th century; the rise of science and its
alliance with art at the Bolognese Accademia Clementina, a trend that
was accompanied by the decline of the Church and the secularization of
Italian culture; and, finally, the artistic trends of the time, moving
from baroque through rococo to neoclassical. These essays, and the
accompanying catalogue, give an excellent introduction to the Gandolfi.

The reproductions are good, though one wishes they could all have been
in color. Each entry includes a short history and bibliographic
documentation. They are sensibly grouped by the artist in chronological
order, an arrangement that emphasizes not only stylistic development,
but also changing tastes in subject matter and trends in patronage.