Giambattista Pittoni

**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
- Pietro Magatti

## Infobox (person)

- **name**: Giambattista Pittoni
- **image**: Giambattista Pittoni, portrait by Bartolomeo Nazari.jpg
- **caption**: Portrait of Pittoni by Bartolomeo Nazari
- **birth place**: Venice, Italy, Venice, Republic of Venice (present-day Italy)
- **death place**: Venice
- **known for**: painting
- **style**: late Baroque, Rococo