Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (Venice, 1682-1754) Giovanni Battista Piazzetta was the son of the sculptor Giacomo Piazzetta, from whom he learned the art of wood carving in his early years. In 1697 he began his pictorial training as a disciple of Antonio Molinari, and later moved to Bologna. He remained there between 1704 and 1705, and furthered his training in the workshop of Giuseppe Maria Crespi, although there is no record of formal tutelage.

However, through Crespi Piazzetta was influenced by Carlo Cignani, and the Venetian also learned from Crespi's painting, in which Caravaggio's chiaroscuro is transformed into a language of graceful charm that surrounds the protagonists of his paintings, popular characters taken from ever...