Pietro Paolo Bonzi

Variant namesauktoriserad namnform: Pietro Paolo Bonzi namnvariant: PietroPaolo Boncus namnvariant: PietroPaolo Bongi namnvariant: PietroPaolo Bonsi namnvariant: PietroPaolo Gobbo namnvariant: Pier Paolo Sellari namnvariant: Pietro Paolo Gobbo stavningsvariant: PietroPaolo Bonzi stavningsvariant: Pietro Paola Bonzi namnvariant: il Cobbo dalle frutta namnvariant: il Cobbo dei frutti namnvariant: il Gobbo da Cortona namnvariant: il Gobbo dei Carracci

DatesBiographical dates: 1573 - 1636 Dead: dead 1636-03-17 Born: born 1573-04-21

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BiographyBiography: Pietro Paolo Bonzi was one of the most important artists in the development of the Italian natura morta, transcending the division between the Neapolitan and Roman schools. He was born in Cortona, and according to Baglione he went at an early age to Rome where, during his apprenticeship, he received quarters in the house of the noble Crescenzi family. Here there was ample opportunity for the young student to paint the opulence of the rich and luxurious foodstuffs that the Crescenzi kitchens had to offer. Both Baglione and Malvasia describe how he received the name “Gobbo dei Carracci” (“the hunchback of the Carracci”) on account of his ability to emulate their style. Federico Zeri, however, thought that the nickname had been misinterpreted or misread in the old sources and that it was supposed to refer instead to Bonzi having worked in the tradition of Caravaggio. Zeri even went as far as to explain Bonzi’s style as based in the “Bonzi-Crescenzi milieu”, where he had had the opportunity to develop his own brand of naturalism, yet one that was steeped in an earlier tradition represented by the Neapolitan, Caravaggesque, still-life painters. But as Luigi Salerno states, Bonzi was in fact associated with the Carracci in earlier sources. His master in Rome had been Giovanni Battista Viola (1576– 1622), who in turn belonged to the circles of the Carracci, and his ideal when it came to landscapes was that of Albani, one of Annibale Carracci’s students. Documented commissions include one for the Palazzo Antici Mattei in 1622, where Bonzi collaborated with his compatriot Pietro da Cortona. Here, his task was to paint festoons of flower and fruit, and in rendering them he was inspired by Giovanni da Udine’s (1487–1564) paintings in the Villa Farnesina. Bonzi is one of few still-life painters who are listed under their own names in the inventories of the great Roman collections: two fruit pieces in the Barberini Collection and one painting in the Giustiniani Collection, listed in the 1638 inventory, for instance.

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