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Members' Research Report Archive

The Artist as Cittadino: Giuseppe Salviati and Venetian Mannerism, 1540–1575

Mattia Biffis, Research Associate 2014–2015

biffis-2014-2015

Giuseppe Salviati, Allegory of Venice as Justice, c. 1559, lunette formerly in the Zecca, Venice. National Gallery, London. Photograph © National Gallery, London /  Art Resource, NY

My work on Giuseppe Salviati (1520–1575) aims to produce a comprehensive study on this painter, Tuscan by birth but mainly active in Venice, who was known especially for his classicizing style and his scholarly interests in astrology and mathematics. This year my research has focused on his identity as a transplanted artist and on the stylistic consequences of his residence in Venice in the 1540s. I presented a paper at the annual meeting of the Renaissance Society of America in which I showed how the idea of citizenship affected Salviati’s artistic practice and social recognition. I discussed other aspects of the painter’s oeuvre in two more articles published this year, one of which included a hitherto unknown poem in praise of Salviati’s pictorial language.