View of the ceiling

1708 · Ca' Dolfin in San Pantalon, Venice

mythological

This fresco on the ceiling of the salone in Ca' Dolfin was executed by Bambini with the collaboration of the quadratura painter Antonio Felice Ferrari. A false loggia in rose marble augments the height of the room, opening it onto an expanse of sky. Arrayed among the clouds is an allegory of Venice between personifications of Virtues and the gods of Olympus, including Amphitrite riding a gigantic dolphin, an allusion to the Dolfin family.

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About the Artist

Nicolò Bambini

1651 – 1736

Italian painter, a pupil of Sebastiano Mazzoni in Venice, and then of Carlo Maratta in Rome. He was again in Venice from 1687, leaving many altarpieces painted in the manner of Pietro Liberi as well as two canvases for the Doge's Palace. His eclectic, impersonal production, characterized by affected, pearl-suffused colours and the influence of Antonio Balestra, helped to popularise the Roman academic style in Venice.

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