OTTAVIO VANNINI

SAINT SEBASTIAN

OTTAVIO VANNINI
Firenze 1585 – 1643 Firenze
Oil on canvas
89 x 69 cm / 35 x 27 in

PROVENANCE
Nagel, Stuttgart, Sale 749S, 29 June 2017, lot 3435 (as FLORENZ, 17. Jahrhundert, Der Heilige Sebastian)

About the author
The 17th century is an incredibly interesting and controversial period for Florentine art. Being based on the idea of artistic synthesis, the Florentine school is probably the only school in Italy in the 17th century, which, in fact, remained indifferent to such bright and important phenomena as Bolognese academism and Caravaggism. Florence seemed to develop its own tradition of naturalistic and academic painting, a tradition that originated in the previous century based on the legacy of the genius of Andrea del Sarto.
It was precisely such a master that Ottavio Vannini was, an incredibly gifted artist, early favoured by muses, fame and powerful patrons.
Born in 1585, he enters the workshop of a certain Mecatti in his early years (as the biographers of Vannini write, a mediocre and uninteresting artist). It is believed that Mecatti gave Vannini the basis of his artistic craft. At a very young age, while still a teenager, Vannini moved to the studio of Domenico Passignano, one of the greatest painters of Florence's new generation. In 1595-1599 Passignano was at the peak of his fame, and the young Vannini was literally immersed in the epicentre of a stormy creative activity. Vannini quickly polished his artistic skill, left his teacher's workshop and received in 1605, at the early age of 20, his first order – the frescoes in Santissima Annunziata in Florence..... reed more : CLICK HERE