BALESTRA, ANTONIO

BALESTRA, ANTONIO. – Painter and engraver, born in Verona in 1666, died there in 1740. He received his initial training in Venice under Antonio Bellucci; from 1690 to 1694 he was in Rome, where he studied the works of Raffaello and the Carracci and attended the school of Maratta. After a further stay in Verona and Venice, he went to Modena and Parma to study Correggio; he then returned permanently to Verona.

B.’s extensive output reflects the eclectic taste resulting from his superficial assimilation of the style of the works and artists with whom he came into contact. Nevertheless, the salient characteristic of his painting—namely, a broad decorative facility—exerted a considerable influence on eighteenth-century painting in Verona, where B. worked very actively.

(Alinari photograph)
BALESTRA, ANTONIO – The Nativity – Venice, church of S. Zaccaria.

His principal works are: in Venice, Madonna and Saints (Jesuit church), Adoration of the Shepherds (church of S. Zaccaria), Rest in Egypt (among the nuns of the Madonna del Carmine), S. John the Baptist in the Desert (church of S. Niccolò), Martyrdom of S. John the Evangelist (church of S. Stae). In Verona, after the Parmesan period, he painted the S. Tommaso da Villanova in the chapter of the Augustinians at S. Eufemia. His paintings are also found in the churches of Vicenza, Brescia, and Bergamo.