GIOVANNI VOLPATO (1735-1803)
Gouache on paper glued to canvas.
Size: 57 x 75 cm; 83 x 100 cm (frame).
While in Rome Volpato gained a reputation for his series of plates after the frescoes of Raphael's Stanze e Loggia in the Vatican (1770-1777). Some of these plates were hand-coloured by Francesco Panini and did not necessarily reproduce the actual design or subjects of the vaults and pilasters of the loggias, but they became much in demand among visitors to Rome.
Giovanni Volpato was an Italian engraver, antiques dealer and maker of biscuit porcelain figurines. Giovanni Volpato received his early training from his mother, an embroiderer, and then studied with Giovanni Antonio Remondini. In 1762 he went to Venice and worked with Joseph Wagner and Francesco Bartolozzi, engraving several plates after Piazzetta, Mariotto, Amiconi, Zuccarelli, Marco Ricci and others. He worked for some time for the Duke of Parma. In 1771, following a suggestion by his patron Girolamo Zulian, he moved to Rome, where he founded a school of engraving. In 1785, he established a porcelain factory that made ceramic replicas of Greco-Roman originals to meet the demand for ancient art during the Neoclassical period.