Giovanni Michele Graneri

Giovanni Michele Graneri (Turin 1708-1762) Peasants Dancing in Front of the Tavern Oil on canvas, Measurements: cm W 143 x H 161 Price: private negotiation Item accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and expertise (downloadable at the bottom of the page) The painting, executed in oil on canvas, depicts a festive moment where some peasants or commoners dance and drink in front of a tavern. The style and quality indicate the authorship of a well-known Piedmontese "bambocciante": Giovanni Michele Graneri, one of the protagonists of the fertile Savoy season of this pictorial genre. For a time, Graneri was parallel to and then a continuator of the work of the head of the school, Pietro Domenico Ollivero, of whom, according to contemporary sources, he was a pupil. The depicted characters, such as the group of dancers in a circle, the old man with the stick, the bassoon player, the drunken peasant sleeping on the barrel, and some observers looking out from the doors, windows, or balconies, are characteristic of this type of representation, which is defined as "bambocciata". The "bambocciata" is a genre of painting aimed at representing, with figurative liveliness and with animated effects of light and color, popular scenes of streets, taverns, markets, gypsies, in open contrast with the grand official Baroque painting. It spread widely throughout the eighteenth century, and in Piedmont, among the major exponents, we remember Pietro Domenico Ollivero (Turin, 1679 - 1755) and Giovanni Michele Graneri (Turin, 1708-1762). The concave shape on the lower side of the frame suggests that the canvas was originally placed in a boiserie in the grand rooms of a noble palace. Giovanni Michele Graneri was born in Turin on September 28, 1708, to a family of modest economic conditions. On August 21, 1747, he married Francesca Margherita Canicoschi from Turin, with whom he had three sons and a daughter. He died on February 26, 1762. The first dated works we know of date back only to 1738, and probably his most famous work is the large canvas with the Market of Piazza San Carlo of 1752 (Turin, Museo Civico d’Arte Antica), in which stands out a very accurate description of the square, so as to credit him with the skills of a “vedutista” (view painter), reiterated then in the other large canvas depicting the Market of Piazza delle Erbe (Sarasota, Florida, John and Mable Ringling Museum). The eighteenth-century sources say he was a pupil of Pietro Domenico Ollivero, the most important and famous painter of genre scenes in Turin, and Graneri's early paintings are strongly influenced by him both in the general layout and in the rendering of the figures. Like Ollivero, Graneri also fits into the vein of the painting of the "bamboccianti", which in Turin had been known through the work of both Jan Miel in the mid-seventeenth century and with paintings by other Flemish painters, such as David Teniers, called the Younger. The painter shows a de visu knowledge of some prints from copper engravings taken from works by David Teniers, from which he draws numerous motifs and subjects; however, he only draws some elements from them. Graneri, in fact, practices sophisticated readings of other people's works, presenting personal interpretations. He absorbs from Teniers, and from Ollivero, certain architectures that have a Nordic inspiration, the setting of the scene, the elderly beggar with the stick, the subject leaning or sleeping on the barrel, the characters dancing, the inevitable dog, a subject looking out the window. Graneri is also concerned with rendering the real liveliness of the scene with bright colors and amusing details, without dwelling too much on the physiognomies of the figures, which are similar to each other. Unlike Ollivero, the painter does not want to meditate on the human stories he describes, but to have fun and render with irony the life that flows around him, sometimes exasperating certain aspects to their deformation. Graneri's works are distinguished by the richness of figures with witty looks, genre scenes, and characters intent on actions of daily life that the author returns with freshness and masterful attention. His works testify to the wealth and social variety that was possible to encounter in the Turin of the Savoy and are considered valuable artistic documents as well as historical sources of considerable importance. Carlotta Venegoni