VENETIAN PAINTER OF THE 16TH-18TH CENTURIES Charity Oil on canvas, 122.5X139.8 cm Provenance: London, Christie's, 31 October 2003, lot 145 (as attributed to Antonio Balestra) Antonio Balestra learned the art of painting with Antonio Bellucci, applying himself to imitating the works of the master and of the principal artists of the Cinquecento in the lagoon (Pascoli 1736-44). In 1690, the young man decided to make a study trip to Rome, where he was placed to study in the school of the famous Carlo Maratti together with Benedetto Luti and Tommaso Redi, 'so that all three went incessantly to dissect and study from Rafaele, Caraci and the Ancient Statues and after a short stay in Naples, in 1694, he received first prize in the competition of the Academy of San Luca' (handwritten letter sent by Balestra to Pellegrino Orlandi, in Polazzo, 1978). This experience directed the painter's style towards a measured classicism, which later modelled itself on the Bolognese examples of Marcantonio Franceschini, creating works with a clear, diaphanous and warm colourism. This evolution in style took place during the early years of the 18th century, when the artist travelled through Lombardy and Emilia, visiting Bologna, Modena, Parma, Piacenza and Milan. Reference bibliography: L. Ghio, Antonio Balestra, in Pittori Bergamaschi, Il Settecento, V, 1989 U. Ruggeri, Nuove opere documentate di Antonio Balestra, in Pittura veneziana dal Quattrocento al Settecento: studi di storia dell'arte in onore di Egidio Martini, edited by G.M. Pilo, Venice 1999 Antonio Balestra a Verona, in 2016: una breve introduzione alla mostra, exhibition catalogue edited by A. Tomezzoli, Verona 2016, ad vocem