GHEZZI, PIER LEONE. - Painter and draftsman, b. in Rome on June 28, 1674, and d. there on March 5, 1755. He was introduced to art by his father Giuseppe and like him
He attended the Accademia di S. Luca, of which he was elected a member in 1705. His first works were sketches from his father's paintings and book engravings (notable are those for the Homiliae in Evangelia and the Orationes Consistoriales of Clement XI), but he was subsequently very active in producing numerous paintings for the churches of Rome, some of which are now lost. Among those that remain, one recalls, at S. Marcello al Corso, the mediocre painting of S. Giuliana Falconieri and the Investiture of the same Saint in the church of the Archconfraternity of S. Maria dell'Orazione e Morte in Via Giulia, S. Ignazio fra i leoni (1715) in S. Clemente, and the Prophet Micah (1718) in S. Giovanni in Laterano. He also made cartoons for tapestries, collaborated on the arrangement of festivals and spectacles, and, like his father, engaged in the restoration (with truly very free ideas) of old paintings. Dating from 1727 are the frescoes on the walls of the Villa Falconieri in Frascati, featuring portraits of members of the Falconieri family and burlesque scenes full of a sharp spirit of observation. And it is precisely this verve and this spirit that make him famous to this day for that numerous group of caricatures (a rich collection is in the Vatican Library) which, beyond their artistic value, possess a particular importance for the social history of eighteenth-century Rome. Three self-portraits of his are preserved in the Uffizi, and another is at the Accademia di S. Luca in Rome.