A ttributed to P ietro M uttoni called D ella V ecchia
Venezia 1603 - Venezia 1678
5. The Martyrdom of Saint Agatha
Pen and brown ink and brown wash, heightened with white
265x240 mm
Pietro della Vecchia probably received his initial training from Alessandro Varotari (1588-1648), known as
Padovanino. Varotari was the leading painter of the first half of the seventeenth century in Venice, and his
style attempted to recapture the classicism of Titian’s early style. Varotari probably served as an inspiration to
Della Vecchia, who later ran his own academy and was one of the founding members of the Collegio de Pittori a
precursor to the Venetian academy created in 1752. Della Vecchia himself was registered with the Venetian guild
between 1629 and 1640 though his first documented work likely dates from 1626 to 1628. He was married to
Clorinda Regnier (? - c.1715), the daughter of the Caravaggesque painter Nicholas Regnier (Nicolo’ Renieri,
1591-1667). Clorinda was herself an accomplished artist who imitated both her husband’s and her father’s work.
Della Vecchia, Regnier, and the Venetian art critic Marco Boschini (1605-1681) were the leading connoisseurs
of painting in Venice and served as agents for, among others, the great Florentine collector, Leopoldo de’ Medici,
whose collection of Venetian masterpieces is now housed in the Pitti Palace.
In the 1630s Della Vecchia became the preeminent religious painter of Venice. In 1640 he was commissioned to
design new mosaics for the Basilica of Saint Mark and given the title of ducal painter. He was acclaimed for his
skill in emulating the monumental manner of Venetian history painting, which served him well in his capacity
as a restorer. In 1643-1645 he has called upon to restore Giorgione’s (1477-1511) Castelfranco altarpiece and
was nicknamed “ the ape of Giorgione”. Della Vecchia knowledge of Venetian sixteenth-century painting is
evident not only in his original paintings and his restorations, but also in his capricious imitations of old masters,
especially Giorgione and Titian. These were not simply copies or forgeries in the modern sense, but rather feats
of virtuosity designed to appeal to connoisseurs. These imitations are recognizable for what may now seem
exaggerations of the manners of their models, but this was perhaps less evident at the time they were painted.
Della Vecchia’s Giorgionesque landscapes, and his imaginary portraits of philosophers and bravos, pages and
courtesans, are also “modern” in that they depend to some extent on the seventeenth-century taste for bizarre
subject matter and character heads deriving from Caravaggio (1571-1610) and Rembrandt (1606-1669). The
sophisticated taste to which Della Vecchia catered in his imitations must also have provided the audience for Della
Vecchia’s many depictions of arcane subject matter, such as philosophers and mathematicians. Della Vecchia’s
interest in the cabala and alchemy partook of the general scientific curiosity of his period, and his involvement
with scientific, literary and artistic academies in Venice is well documented. His only son, Gasparo (1653-1735),
was a mathematician as well as a musician and painter. Della Vecchia’s style, which did not greatly evolve, is
characterized by bluntness that achieves monumentality through compositional simplicity. Through Lazzarini,
Giambattista and Giandomenico Tiepolo may have been influenced by Della Vecchia’s taste for fanciful and
arcane subject matter, and for feats of artistic virtuosity. While modern viewers may agree with the critic Anton
Maria Zanetti’s assessment that Della Vecchia’s paintings appeal more through surprise than through beauty, in
the seventeenth century the ability to incite curiosity and marvel was considered the highest expression of wit.
This very dramatic drawing represents the martyrdom of a young woman. A group of men surround her: one holds her
tightly while a bearded man in a long tunic holds a long knife against her breast. A young boy runs away screaming.
This martyrdom is surely that of St. Agatha one of the four great Virgins of the Latin Church. She was from a rich and
illustrious family from Catania in Sicily, and having been consecrated to God from her tender years, triumphed over
many assaults upon her chastity. The Governor of Sicily, Quintianus, hearing of her great beauty and perfection fell in
love with her and wanted her to sacrifice to the pagan gods. When she refused he sent her to the brothel of Aphrodisia
and her nine daughters who tried to persuade her to change her mind. But Agatha was steadfast in her faith. The
Governor had her breast cut off, but Agatha said “My soul has with in it whole breast, and with them I nourish all my
senses, which I have consecrated to the Lord from infancy”. A photograph in color was sent to Professor Aikema, the
author of the only monograph on the artist. He is not one hundred percent certain it is by Della Vecchia but thinks
the idea, made recently by Julien Stock, worth taking seriously. Stock sees similarities in this sheet with other drawings
by the artist and also finds the layout of the composition very similar to the painting The Martydom of St. Lawrence 1 ,
in the Museo Civico Treviso. This work can be dated to 1654, a possible date for the present study.
( GG )