GAULLI GIOVAN BATTISTA Lot n° 289

GAULLI GIOVAN BATTISTA (1639-1709) 'The Apostle John' and 'Nicodemus' pair of oil paintings cm. 54 5x64 7 authentication by Gilberto Zabert Turin December 5, 1982 Gaulli's artistic training is within the framework of Genoese painting independently of his alumnuship with the Genoese portrait painter Luciano Borzone. He copied Perin del Vaga's frescoes in the Doria palace and Genoa but was attentive at the same time to the works of Rubens and Van Dick (whom he came to know through the Flemish Cornelis De Wael), whose freedom in the use of color he especially grasped. From these contacts Gaulli must have made such an indelible impression that he conditioned his taste in his later Roman period and derived formal solutions not only in some youthful works but again in works of his maturity :having arrived in Rome in 1657 he enjoyed the protection of Bernini, who seems to have directly inspired him for his large decorative compositions, and he soon became the official portrait painter of the powerful Chigi family.