Ubaldo Gandolfi

Ubaldo Gandolfi (1728–1781) was an Italian painter, draughtsman and sculptor of the late-Baroque period, mainly active in and near Bologna. He is known for his biblical, mythological and allegorical subjects as well as his portraits and nudes. Ubaldo and his brother Gaetano were during their lifetime among the first and most celebrated artists of Italy. This fame was gained by the excellent quality of their works, which lead to many and important commissions they had from courts and countries all over Europe.^[1]

Mercury About to Behead Argus

Life

He was born in San Matteo della Decima on an estate in the Po Valley estate which his father managed for a landowner. He enrolled by the age of 17 at the Clementine Academy, where he apprenticed with Ercole Graziani the Younger, Felice Torelli, and Ercole Lelli.^[2] The Gandolfi family produced a number of prominent artists, including Ubalso's brother Gaetano, his own sons Giovanni Battista and Ubaldo Lorenzo, as well as his brother's sons Mauro and grandchildren Democrito (who was a pupil of Antonio Canova) and Clementina. Ubaldo, Gaetano and Mauro are considered among the last representatives of the grand manner of painting characteristic of the Bolognese school, that had risen to prominence nearly two centuries earlier with the members of the Carracci family.The Bolognese school of painting focused on realistic depictions of human anatomy and drawing from live models.^[3]

Gandolfi's work ranges from Baroque to Neoclassic styles, and specifically recalls the style of Ludovico Carracci. He completed, in 1770–1775, a series of canvases on mythological narratives for the Palazzo Marescalchi in Bologna (two are now in Museum of North Carolina ). A series of seven saints painted by Gandolfi is on display at the Quadreria of the Palazzo Rossi Poggi Marsili in Bologna. He died in Ravenna in 1781.

Sleeping Legionary

His pupils include Giuseppe Grimanti,^[4] Giovanni Lipparini (il Rosolino),^[5] and Nicola Levoli.

References

1. Gaetano e Ubaldo Gandolfi - Opere scelte, Cento (FE) - 13 Aprile - 16 Giugno - 2002 (in Italian)
2. Ubaldo Gandolfi: An Italian Master of Baroque and Neoclassical Art
3. Ubaldo Gandolfi, Mercury About to Behead Argus, at the North Carolina Museum of Art
4. Guida del forestiere per la città di Bologna e suoi sobborghi, by Girolamo Bianconi; Annesio Nobili, Bologna, 1820, page 504.
5. Annali della città di Bologna dalle sua origine, 1796, Volume 8, page 740.

Further reading

• Cazort, Mimi, Bella Pittura: The Art of the Gandolfi, Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, 1993.,
• Cazort, Mimi, The Art of Embellishment: Drawings and Paintings by Gaetano and Mauro Gandolfi for a Festive Carriage, in Record of The Art Museum, Princeton University, Volume 52, Number 2, 1993.
• Rosasco, Betsy, Drawings by the Gandolfi Family and Their Followers in The Art Museum: A Checklist, in Record of The Art Museum, Princeton University, Volume 52, Number 2, 1993.
• Vicenza, Neri Pozza, I Gandolfi: Ubaldo, Gaetano, Mauro, disegni e dipinti, Neri Pozza Editore, 1987.

Gallery

• Selected works
• 
  Hercules and the Lernean Hydra
• 
  Selene and Endymion
• 
  Head of an Old Woman
• 
  Seated Male Nude

External links