Giambattista Pittoni (or Giovanni Battista Pittoni; 6 June 1687 – 6 November 1767) was an Italian painter. His paintings are from the late Baroque or Rococo period. He was among the people who started the Academy of Fine Arts of Venice.

Pittoni was born in Venice on 6 June 1687. He worked there for most of his life. He travelled to France in 1720. It was around this time that his style of painting changed. His style became influenced by French styles. Pittoni joined a Venetian guild of painters in 1716. He served as president of the Academy of Fine Arts of Venice from 1758 to 1760 and from 1763 to 1764. He was in high demand all across Italy during his life.

Loaves and fishes 
The miracle of the loaves and fishes is a 1725 painting by Pittoni. It is in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, Victoria, Australia.
The story is recorded in all four gospels. Pittoni’s depiction is of the gospel of John (6:3–13): ‘Jesus went into the mountains … a great multitude followed him, He bade them sit down, took five loaves and two fishes and, giving thanks, broke them and the disciples distributed them’.

Works

 Bacchus and Ariadne of the Senate (1730s), Senate of the Republic (Italy), Palazzo Madama, Sala Cavour, Rome
 In the Louvre Museum, Paris:
 Christ grants Keys of Paradise to St Peter
 Continence of Scipio (1733–1735)
 Susanna and the Elders (1723–1725)
 Tombeau allégorique de l'archevêque John Tillotson (1630–1694) (1726–1727)
 Bacchus and Ariadne (1720–1725)
 Venus and Mars (1720–1725)
 Sacrifice of Polyxena at the Tomb of Achilles
 Dido founds Carthage
 Holy family, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
 The Annunciation, Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice; Oil on Canvas
 Hagar in Desert, Church of Frari, Venice; Oil on Canvas
 Justice and Peace, Palazzo Pesaro, Venice; fresco
 Nativity (1740), National Gallery, London
 Susanna and the Elders (1720), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
 St Elizabeth distributing Alms (1734), Szépmûvészeti Múzeum, Budapest; Oil on canvas, 72 x 43 cm
 The family (1720), Oil on canvas, 60 x 73 cm, private collection
 Sacrifice of Isaac (1720), Church of San Francesco della Vigna, Venice; Oil on Canvas, 118 x 155 cm
 Descent from the Cross (c. 1750), Palace of Legion of Honor, San Francisco, California
 Sacrifice of Polyxena (1733–1734), Getty Museum, Los Angeles
 Christ and St Peter, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
 Annunciation (1758), Accademia, Venice
 Death of Joseph, Berggruen Museum in Charlottenburg Palace, National Gallery (Berlin), Berlin; Oil on canvas, 97 x 79 cm
 St Jerome and St Peter of Alcantara (1725), National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh; Oil on canvas, 275 x 143 cm
 Penitent Magdalene (1740) Accademia, Venice, Oil on canvas, 48 x 38 cm
 Sacrifice of Polyxena, Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg; Oil on canvas, 129 x 94 cm
 Vision of St Anthony of Padua (1730), San Diego Museum of Art, Balboa Park, California; 35 1/2 in. x 23 1/4 in.
 David and Bathsheba, 74x64 cm
 Finding of Moses (c. 1730), Portland Art Museum, Oregon
 Miracle of the loaves and fishes (1725), National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; oil on canvas, 120.1x178.5 cm
 Martyrdom of St Thomas, Church of San Stae, Venice
 Death of Sophonisba, Pushkin Museum, Moscow; oil on canvas, 165 x 214 cm
 Rest on the Flight into Egypt (1725), Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid; oil on canvas, 108 x 135 cm
 St Roch (1727), Szépmûvészeti Múzeum,  Budapest; oil on canvas, 42 x 32 cm
 Allegorical monument to the glory of Isaac Newton (c. 1727–29), Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
 Nativity, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Quimper; oil on canvas, 74 × 56 cm
 Stoning of St Stephen, 2nd left picture of the Church's altar of S. Maria Diessen
 Death of Agripina and Death of Seneca, Dresden Gallery
 Eliezer and Rebecca (c. 1725), Musée des Beaux-arts, Bordeaux
 Enthroned Madonna and Child venerated by Saints Peter and Pius V (1723–1724), Church of Santa Corona, Vicenza
 Madonna with Saints, Church of San Germano dei Berici
 Diane and Acteon (c. 1725), Palazzo Chiericati, Vicenza;  oil on canvas, 147 x 197.5 cm
 Sacrifice by Jephthah, Museo di Palazzo Reale, Genoa
 Portrait of Cardinal Bartolomeo Roverella, Accademia dei Concordi, Rovigo
 Jupiter protect Justice, The Peace and the Science, Plafonds decoration, Ca' Pesaro, Venice
 Saints presenting a devout Woman to Virgin and Child, Cleveland Museum of Art
 Allegory of Painting and Sculpture, Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice
 Annunciation,  Städelsches Kunstinstitut
 Madonna of Sorrows, Museum Gemäldegalerie (Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz)
 Martyrdom of St Clement: Sketch for Altar at Clemenskirche, Muenster, displayed at Uppsala Universitet Konstsamling
 St Peter, Kunsthalle

Death

Pittoni died in Venice on 6 November 1767. He is buried in the church of San Giacomo dell'Orio. His reputation quickly faded after his death. Interest in him was revived in the 20th century.

Related pages
 List of Italian painters

References

1687 births
1767 deaths
Italian painters
People from Venice