Sebastiano Mazzoni
Sebastiano Mazzoni (c. 1611 – Venice, 22 April 1678) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. Born in Florence, he trained in that city during 1632-33 in the studio of Baccio del Bianco. He then moved to Venice in 1648, and stayed there till his death. He painted a somewhat unusual Annunciation with a hovering ghostly angel dominating the scene. In 1638 he joined the Accademia del disegno in Florence. Andrea Celesti was one of his pupils; and it is said he influenced the style of Sebastiano Ricci and Ghislandi.
Ultimately Mazzoni has an enigmatic individual style with paintings of unresolved dynamism, depicted from awkward perspectives, in some fashion resembling his contemporary Francesco Maffei or evoking the distortions of a Lorenzo Lotto of the prior century. His works are characterized by urgent movement and tension, reflecting the turbulent spirit of the Baroque era.
Between 1646, when he is documented in Florence, and 1648, Mazzoni moved to Venice, where he stayed till his death. There he signed and dated two altarpieces for the church of San Beneto: *St. Benedict Presenting a Priest to the Virgin* (1648) and *St. Benedict in Glory among the Theological Virtues* (1649). *Susanna and the Elders* (priv. col.) is also dated 1649. In Venice he became a close friend of Pietro Liberi, and, influenced by Fetti, Johann Liss and, above all, Strozzi, led the painterly, Baroque movement that became established in Venice at that time.
His works of the 1650s, which include *The Annunciation* (Venice, Gallerie dell'Accademia) and *The Dispute of the Arts* (two versions; Venice, priv. col.; Chaalis, Musée Jacquemart André), are already Baroque in feeling, and the works painted around 1660, which include *Cleopatra’s Banquet* (1660; Washington, DC, Smithsonian Institution, on loan to Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art), *The Sacrifice of Jephthah* (Kansas City, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art) and *The Death of Cleopatra* (Rovigo, Accademia dei Concordi), are distinguished by dramatic movement and violent contrasts of light and dark. In their grandiose, theatrical effects and vibrant, broken brushwork, these pictures brilliantly anticipate aspects of 18th-century Venetian painting.
In Mazzoni’s last works, such as *The Dream of Pope Honorius III* (1669; Venice, Santa Maria del Carmine), space is unclear and irrational and the increasingly visionary mood is inspired by Tintoretto. Mazzoni died in Venice on 22 April 1678. Andrea Celesti was one of his pupils. Mazzoni influenced the style of Sebastiano Ricci and Ghislandi.
Mazzoni’s artistic legacy resides in his ability to capture psychological depth and emotional intensity within monumental compositions. His distinctive technique—characterized by loose brushwork, dramatic chiaroscuro, and a penchant for unconventional viewpoints—established him as a pivotal figure in Venetian Baroque art.
