Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini (Italian, 1675-1741)
“The Young Bacchus”
Oil on panel
11 x 7 ½ inches
(27.9 x 19.2 cm)

Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini (29 April 1675 – 2 November 1741) was one of the leading Venetian history painters of the early 18th century. His style melded the Renaissance style of Paolo Veronese with the Baroque of Pietro da Cortona and Luca Giordano.  He travelled widely on commissions which brought him to England, the Southern Netherlands, the Dutch Republic, Germany, Austria and France.  He is considered an important predecessor of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. One of his pupils was Antonio Visentini.  Pellegrini was a pupil of the Milanese painter Paolo Pagani. He travelled with his master to Moravia and Vienna in 1690 and was back in Venice in 1696 where he painted his first surviving works.