Engraving Of The Martyrdom Of Saint Lawrence Cecchi Giovanni Battista 1776

ENGRAVING OF THE MARTYRDOM OF SAINT LAWRENCE Allegranti Ranieri (documented 1773-1783): draughtsman

Pietro Da Cortona (1596/1669): inventor

Giovanni Battista Cecchi (ca. 1748/post 1815): engraver. SIZE 68 x 31 cm with frame 80 x 58 cm

Giovanni Battista Cecchi (1748-1819) was an engraver and printmaker. Originally a carpenter, he abandoned the trade due to an injury to his right hand. He then devoted himself to the art of drawing, under the guidance of master Francesco Conti of the Grand Ducal Gallery of Florence, and later to engraving, following in the footsteps of Ferdinando Gregori. He primarily used the burin and rarely etching to reproduce paintings by Florentine artists.
Among his most famous engravings are those of the violinist Pietro Nardini, Saint Francis of Paola, Vellano of Padua, Battista Franco, Leopold II with his family, Ferdinand III of Tuscany and his wife Luisa Maria Amalia of Bourbon-Naples, and the reconstruction of Dante's tomb.
Cecchi collaborated with the engraver Benedetto Eredi on several works such as "Bonarum artium splendori XII tabulae a praestantissimis Italiae pictoribus expressae" and "Divini poetae Dantis Alighieri sepulcrum." He also engraved "The Twelve Months of the Year," from drawings by G. Zocchi, and collaborated on the collection "The Most Illustrious Bronze and Marble Bas-reliefs Seen in the Public and Private Galleries of Florence by Gaetano Vascellini."
Finally, Cecchi contributed to the iconographic repertoire of the counter-revolution, engraving the Arezzo Insurrection against the French, the Battle in the Piazza del Duomo in Arezzo, the Loyalty of the Arezzo People, and Cortona Liberated from the Yoke of the French. The last work he completed in collaboration with Eredi was the cycle of engravings for the Life of Pope Pius VII, based on drawings by G. Pera and Emilio Cateni. His engravings are preserved at the National Institute for Graphics in Rome.