intrigofineart - specialists in Flemish and Dutch old master paintings

Giovanni Raggi
(Bergamo 1712 - 1794)

"Portrait of an oriental merchant"

Oil on canvas
27.17" x 21.65", 69 x 55 cm

€ 48.000,00

This penetrating portrait of a mature oriental is attributed to the art of Giovanni Raggi (Bergamo 1712-1794 ca.) that had the fate of meeting the great Giambattista Tiepolo while he was executing the frescoes of Cappella Colleone in Bergamo in 1733. Raggi was esteemed by Giambattista Tiepolo who allowed him to follow as an assistant, to Venice where he remained until 1741 attending his workshop and collaborating in important works such as the famous triptych "The Passion of Christ" in the Church of Saint Alvise.

Rodolfo Pallucchini remarks (La Pittura nel Veneto -il Settecento, 1996, pg.220) that Giovanni Raggi was also a outstanding portraitist. When he returned to Bergamo after having sojourned in Verona and Mantua (where he was commissioned portraits), the artist did not miss the opportunity to fill the gap left by the death of Fra Galgario, since Raggi had been apprenticed in his workshop when he was younger.

This portrait, is evidently related with the etchings "Raccolta di teste" by Giandomenico Tiepolo 1757, having an analogous subject; and is also derives from a work of Giandomenico Tiepolo in the Rudolf Kann Collection of Paris; the stylistic comparison of this portrait, with "The marriage of Conte Gianforte Suardi and Contessa Elisabetta" executed in 1762, in the collection of Conte Guido Suardi of Bergamo, is observed in the plasticity of the faces, the precious vests, the elongated hands and the character introspection.

This work, that is finely accomplished with a vivacious range of colours, is datable to around 1770.