Giovanni Ghisolfi

Giovanni Ghisolfi (1623- 1683) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period.

Born in Milan, he initially trained with his uncle, Antonio Volpino. At the age of 17, he travelled to Rome with his friend Antonio Busca where he painted veduta and capricci, mainly landscapes with architectural fragments and ruins [* [http://www.liechtensteinmuseum.at/en/pages/artbase_main.asp?module=browse&action=m_work&lang=en&sid=31032196&oid=W-147200412195342011| "Roman ruins with three columns"] , vedute of the Temple of Vespasian and Titus from Liechenstein Museum in Vienna.] [ [http://www.liechtensteinmuseum.at/en/pages/artbase_main.asp?module=browse&action=m_work&lang=en&sid=31032196&oid=W-147200412195342012| "Roman ruins"] from Liechenstein Museum.] . They would garner renewed interest with the rise of Neoclassicism in the mid-late 18th century.

In 1661, he decorated a chapel of the Certosa di Pavia. In 1664 he was called to Vicenza to execute, in the Palazzo Trissino Baston and the Palazzo Giustiniani Baggio, a series of decorative landscape frescoes. He painted also in Palazzo Borromeo Arese at Cesano, and in the fourth chapel of the Sacri Monti and covered the vaults of the Basilica of San Vittore in Varese.

Among his pupil was his nephew, Bernardo Racchetti from Milan (1639-1702).

References

*cite book | first= Rudolf|last= Wittkower| year=1980| title= Art and Architecture in Italy, 1600-1750| editor= | pages= p 350 | publisher= Penguin Books | id= | url= | authorlink=
* [http://www.artnet.com/library/03/0320/T032002.asp|Artnet Grove Encyclopedia entry]