Bust of a Man (Saint Matthias?)
This bearded man with an axe may be identified as Matthias, the last of the apostles, chosen to take the place of Judas after his betrayal of Christ. It probably comes from one of several series of apostles’ heads devised by Piazzetta and widely disseminated when engraved by Marco Pitteri. The French artist Fragonard is known to have admired Pitteri’s engravings after Piazzetta’s apostles when he encountered them in a Venetian printshop in 1774.
Artwork Details
- Title: Bust of a Man (Saint Matthias?)
- Artist: Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (Italian, Venice 1682–1754 Venice)
- Date: ca. 1715–20
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 17 1/2 × 14 3/4 in. (44.5 × 37.5 cm)
- Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Gift of Dianne Modestini and Eugene V. Thaw, 2016
- Object Number: 2016.653
- Curatorial Department: European Paintings
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Giovanni Battista Piazzetta
1738 (?)
Giovanni Battista Piazzetta
18th–19th century
Multiple artists/makers
1740
Giovanni Battista Piazzetta
Giovanni Battista Piazzetta
1745
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