Domenico Fedeli, Maggiotto (1712-1794), da - San Francesco in meditazione davanti al Crocifisso

Domenico Fedeli, Maggiotto (Venice 1712-1794)
Saint Francis in meditation before the Crucifix
Oil on canvas 74.5 x 60 cm
85cm x 70cm with frame

The work is presented in a solid antique frame. The painting is a simplified version, that is, lacking the cherubs above the child behind the saint, from Domenico Maggiotto's painting, known from Leonardis's engraving (also reproduced by his son Francesco Maggiotto), which depicts the same figure, here representing Saint Jerome Emiliani.

Of modest origins, Domenico Fedeli attended the Venetian workshop of painter G.B. Piazzetta from about the age of ten, sharing apprenticeships and/or collaborations with Giulia Lama, Egidio dall'Oglio, Francesco Capella, Giuseppe Angeli, and Antonio Marinetti, known as the Chiozzotto. The artist never left Venice, where he continued to work at least until the 1990s, passing on to his son Francesco the extensive repertoire of his subjects, inspired by the examples of Piazzetta, of whom he was one of the most important students. Fedeli's painting production can be divided into three periods: the first, 'Piazzettian' (1740-1754); the period of the Crisis of Renewal, inspired by G. B. Tiepolo (1755-1765); and the last, marked by a return to youthful models (around 1765-1780).