Giovanni Carnovali detto il Piccio

Born in Porto Valtravaglia September 29, 1804 , drowned in the river Po at Cremona July 5, 1873 . At nine years old he began to attend the courses of the Accademia Carrara of Bergamo under the guidance of Diotti , who was very dear and who foretold the greatness in a letter to a friend. “How much provision has this child of the age of twelve years for painting is not easy thing to describe it.

I predict that if he will explain the imagination the same talent that shows in imitation , not become a good artist , but extraordinary . ” He formed far from the literary battles that took place in Italy , completely ignored the fissures between the school and the school, between trend and trend , did not create followers , only worked. Sad and meditative in nature , lived solitary traveling a lot to Italy , and from these trips drew collection of gray atmosphere as rosy mists that give so much mysterious sweetness to his works.

He watched long as Correggio , and is the only one that a follow-up to the Italian tradition of 700. In 1845 he went to France and visited Switzerland , but took nothing from French painting , remaining faithful to its source . Had few followers: the citizen and the Faruffini Trecourt James , who was a friend . His extensive production scattered in private collections in the Pavia and Cremona was ignored by most despite the prompt and frank statement made dall’Hayez in the superiority of Piccio on all the Lombard painters of his time.

Only after the exhibition of the painting of the nineteenth century Lombard held in Milan in 1900 and , even better, after the special of 1909 , organized by the Society for Fine Arts , the name of Piccio became popular and his works were sought after because they were all included the fresh spontaneous grace and beauty of his art and his personal painting , far from the literary fashions and not created by academic precepts or easy to theories of technique.

Then began the research by scholars vain and perhaps insoluble than the evolution of Tranquillo Cremona and Daniele were to Ranzoni Piccio . What is certain is that the air , the light and the color of its landscapes yet least understood of his figures pioneered the research of plein-air and the Impressionists. His major works are: ” Morning in Brembana Valley ” , in the collection of Count Agliardi of Bergamo ; ” Rebecca and the servant of Abraham ” and ” The Kiss of jacket to Rachel ,” ” Hagar in the Desert ,” ” The Bather ” , formerly owned by Mr . Gaspare Gussoni , Milan, ” The portrait of the engraver Beltrami ,” in the Museum Ala Ponzone of Cremona. At the Galleria d’Arte Moderna in Milan there are thirteen works , amongst which : “Self-portrait ” , ” Bather ” and ” Landscape “, in that of Rome : ” Biblical scene ” and ” Portrait of a Woman .” In the collection of the Civic School of painting in Pavia are preserved: ” The portrait of James Trecourt ” ” The Judgement of Paris ” and ” The Flight into Egypt.”

In the Academy Carrara in Bergamo : ” The portrait of Count Carlo Marenzi ” , ” portrait” , ” Portrait of Miss Memories ” , that of “Mr. Ghidini Pietro ” , the ” Nob . Maironi Da Ponte ” of “Miss nob . Marenzi ” , the ” Count William Lochis “and one ” Portrait of James Trecourt . ” Other works: ” Apollo playing lyre Ia “, ” The death of Virginia “, ” David and Saul ” ; ” Lot and his daughters ,” ” Finding of Moses ” ; ” Susanna in the Bath “, ” Horses trough ” , “The death of Aminta ,” ” Salmace that captivates Hermaphrodite ” , ” Crucifixion ” , ” The Adoration of the Magi ,” ” The Baptism of Jesus ,” ” Magdalene ” . The collection of the comm . Giovanni Finazzi of Bergamo now retains the largest number of paintings of this artist precursor , over a hundred , and numerous drawings .