Pietro Della Vecchia Biography
Pietro Della Vecchia (Venice, 1603 – Vicenza, 8 September 1678) was an Italian painter. In 1984 Bernard Aikema demonstrated that the painter's real surname is Della Vecchia, while Pietro Muttoni, with whom he has been known since the 19th century, is the result of a misinterpretation that Luigi Lanzi made of a work by F. Bartoli (The paintings, sculptures and architecture of the city of Rovigo, 1793), which cites a painting by the artist in Casa Muttoni in Rovigo. The peculiarity of the original surname has led some to interpret it throughout the 19th and 20th centuries as a nickname derived from Della Vecchia's activity as a restorer, as well as from his predisposition for replicating and copying paintings by artists of previous generations such as Giorgione. He studied, in all likelihood, with Alessandro Varotari, known as the Padovanino, deriving from this his interest in the Venetian painting of the previous century, in particular that of Titian and Giorgione. Known for the skill with which he reproduced the style of the Venetian masters of the 16th century (he was praised by Marco Boschini, his contemporary, as "simia di Zorzon", imitator of Giorgione) he is also known for his grotesque genre painting, as well as for the portrait activity. He also restored the Castelfranco Altarpiece. As the official painter of the Republic of Venice, he received the commission for the creation of the cartoons of the mosaics of the Basilica of San Marco, an activity that kept him busy from 1640 to 1673. Around 1670 he painted the canvas Moses and Aaron with the Pharaoh, now in La Spezia in the Amedeo Lia Civic Museum, which reveals Caravaggio influences. Also in Venice, he painted Sant'Antonio with his basilica, representing S. Antonio di Padova, his basilica and two minor conventual friars: Fathers Maurizio Cavalletti and Maurizio Graziani, religious of the Frari, who donated it in 1674, for the Basilica of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. Near the Rialto in the church of San Lio, on the left side of the main altar you can admire a magnificent crucifixion. He married Clorinda Renieri, also a painter, daughter of the Flemish Nicolas Régnier, painter and art dealer, with whom della Vecchia established business relationships in the latter branch.
