What do the painters of the seventeenth century look for? Light. Which means many things. Light is faith in one's own resources, it is the hope mixed with the certainty of a better tomorrow.
In the midst of the Counter-Reformation, Giambattista Salvi, like many other artists, did not have much space to paint subjects that did not represent Madonnas and so he was long defined, rightly or wrongly, the painter of Madonnas, also because, emigrating from his native village in the mountains where the Sentino river flows towards the capital of Christianity, his clients were mainly rich religious devotees who vied with each other in offering their devout homage to various churches under construction in the various Roman districts.
Son of a modest painter named Carpinio in Sassoferrato, he learned art at his father's workshop, also influenced by the painting of one of his fellow citizens, Pietro Paolo Agapiti, who made excessive use of colour in his canvases. Coming from a family of local ceramists, he probably knew how to obtain certain shades that gave greater emphasis to the subjects he wanted to highlight.
It is truly incredible that a small village lost in the hinterland of the Marche gave birth to artists who in some way were protagonists of the Italian sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and the list is truly long in this region that sometimes seems forgotten and put in second place compared to others.
And it is absurd if we think that this is the land that gave birth to Raphael.
Sassoferrato is shy, a quiet loner who doesn't lead a social life even in Rome, doesn't frequent the artistic circle, gets married and goes to live with his wife and six children in an unpretentious neighborhood.
But he certainly cannot be considered mediocre for this reason, the chromatism in his paintings is excellent, the expression of his subjects, among which a self-portrait stands out – his own – is anything but banal.
GB Salvi – Self-portrait – Florence, Uffizi Gallery
It is the proof that in the capital he has reached a balance, the chiaroscuro of his face does not show particular contrasts, he has the expression of someone who is aware of his art, of who he and his family are. In this he can also be considered a painter out of time, far from the typical idiosyncrasies of artists.
Another beautiful painting that further highlights the mastery of the use of colour, its blue-light blues were created with a particular mixture of lapis lazuli and its reds tending towards gold gave the pictorial composition a particular elegance, is that of the portrait of the prelate Ottaviano Prati, one of the few signed and therefore even more precious.
Portrait of Monsignor Ottaviano Prati – Rome Palazzo Barberini
A true perfectionist who leaves nothing to chance, Giambattista Salvi. And for this reason it would be worth a visit also in the town where he was born, where among other things some of his works are exhibited.
