Giovanni Battista Vanni

Giovan Battista Vanni trained under Aurelio Lomi, Matteo Rosselli, Jacopo da Empoli, Cristofano Allori and Giulio Parigi. From 1624 to 1632, he worked in Rome, where his activity is associated with the influence of the French painters then present in the city. After a brief trip to Venice, he returned to Florence and devoted himself to sacred subjects. In Florence, he contributed to the frescoes of the History of Saint Anthony in the first cloister of the convent of San Marco.

Among the works mentioned are Venere che piange Adone morente, at the Museo dell’Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence; Il Trionfo di Davide, at the Galleria del Palazzo degli Alberti in Prato; and Il San Sebastiano curato dalle pie donne, in the church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini in Rome. The Sacra Famiglia con San Giovannino, dated 1650, is recorded in the New York collection of Mr. and Mrs O’Connor Lynch; the Cena in casa di Simone Fariseo is in the second refectory of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence. The notice also mentions an Annunciazione dated 1650 at San Francesco di Paola, as well as a Pietà in a tabernacle at the corner of Via dei Cappuccini, in the same city.

Around 1660, at the request of Abbot Ippolito Bracciolini, Vanni was summoned to decorate the cloister of the Olivetan monastery of Saint-Benoît in Pistoia with frescoes. The planned programme comprises twelve tympanums devoted to the History of the Knights of the Order of Saint Benedict. He died on 27 July 1660, after suffering from high fevers and feeling unwell.

Works recorded at auction

Genève Enchères · Lot 314

Tête de chien

Charcoal

Original catalogue wording

Tête de chien
fusain

Catalogue period : 2022-09-22

Published result : 1000 CHF

Fees not specified in the available data

Estimate : CHF 300–500

View the lot at the auction house ↗