BALESTRA, ANTONIO. — Painter and engraver, born in Verona in 1666, died there in 1740. He completed his initial training in Venice under Antonio Bellucci; from 1690 to 1694 he was in Rome, where he studied the works of Raphael and the Carracci, and where he followed the school of Maratta. After a new stay in Verona and Venice, he went to Modena and Parma to study Correggio; then he returned definitively to Verona.
The vast output of B. reflects the eclectic taste derived from his superficial assimilation of the styles of the works and artists with whom he came into contact. However, the salient feature of his painting—namely, a broad decorative facility—had a notable influence on 18th-century painting in Verona, where B. worked very actively.
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**BALESTRA, ANTONIO** - *The Nativity* - Venice, church of S. Zaccaria.
His principal works include: in Venice, *Madonna and Saints* (church of the Jesuits), *Adoration of the Shepherds* (church of S. Zaccaria), *Rest in Egypt* (with the nuns of the Madonna del Carmine), *St. John the Baptist in the Desert* (church of S. Niccolò), *Martyrdom of St. John the Evangelist* (church of S. Stae). In Verona, after the Parmesan period, he painted *St. Thomas of Villanova* for the chapter of the Augustinians at S. Eufemia. His paintings are also found in the churches of Vicenza, Brescia, and Bergamo.