Bidspirit auction | Pietro Bianchi (Rome 1694 -

Pietro Bianchi (Rome 1694 - 1740) attributed Saint John the Baptist in the desert Oil on canvas - Information about Bianchi's life comes to us from two 18th-century biographies written by Dezallier d'Argenville and Carlo Giuseppe Ratti. Originally from Sarzana in Liguria, he moved to Rome at an early age. Here he began his apprenticeship with Giacomo Triga, who soon after moved to Venice, so the young Pietro moved to the workshop of Giovanni Battista Gaulli. In 1709, after Gaulli's death, he spent a short period with Giuseppe Ghezzi and eventually settled with Benedetto Luti, becoming his favourite pupil. In 1725 he received his first important commissions as an independent painter. His works are still preserved in many Roman churches and in the Galleria Colonna.