Pier Leone Ghezzi

The Italian painter, draughtsman and caricaturist Pier Leone Ghezzi (1674–1755), active mainly in Rome, combined decorative and religious painting with the production of caricatures, which remains the best-known part of his work. Trained by his father, the painter Giuseppe Ghezzi, he grew up in an environment shaped by the Roman classical tradition, particularly that of Carlo Maratta, Giovanni Battista Gaulli and Pietro da Cortona. His first documented painting is a Landscape with Saint Francis, signed and dated 1698, now held at the Pinacoteca Civica in Montefortino; he also painted frescoes at Villa Falconieri in Frascati and religious works for churches in Rome. In 1710, Francesco Farnese, Duke of Parma, awarded him the Knight’s Cross.

Caricatures occupy a central place in his practice: the earliest are dated 1693, and the source estimates that he produced thousands over the course of his life, while cautiously presenting him as one of the possible first professional caricaturists. After 1730, Ghezzi himself assembled drawings in several volumes entitled Mondo nuovo, now held at the Vatican Library. According to the source, these portraits were intended neither to subvert nor to pass moral judgement; they depict, among others, aristocrats, artists and clergy from his circle and patronage networks.

The circulation of his caricatures extended beyond Rome: Arthur Pond introduced them to London by distributing them as prints, and Matthias Œsterreich later published a collection of prints after his drawings in Potsdam in 1766. At the same time, Ghezzi continued his decorative work: in 1747, he created a cycle of tempera wall paintings comprising landscape views for the gallery of the Papal Palace at Castel Gandolfo. A sheet depicting Monsieur Jean Francois de Gervasy is described in a lot description as executed in black chalk, pen and brown brush on tinted paper; it measures 26.2 × 16.2 cm. The stated provenance includes the collection of Lamberto Vitali, followed by a private collection in the Netherlands.

Works recorded at auction

Lempertz · Lot 2128

Karikatur des Monsieur Jean Francois de Gervasy

Feder und Pinsel in Braun auf getöntem Papier

Auction date : 2022-05-21

Published result : 2500 EUR

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : 2000

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Piguet

Entourage de Pier Leone Ghezzi — Joueur de mandoline

Ink on paper

Original catalogue wording

Entourage de Pier Leone Ghezzi — Joueur de mandoline
encre sur papier
entourage de

Catalogue period : 2021-03-02 — 2021-03-17

Circle of

Published result : 550 CHF

Fees not specified in the available data

Estimate : CHF 500–700

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