Giovanni Antonio Burrini (Bologna, 1656 - 1727)
Young girl holding jewels and Pageboy
oil on canvas, inv. P 847, P 848
provenance: donated by Tristano Giorgio Agostini, 2006
The two paintings date from 1685 to 1690 and belong to the genre of
teste di carattere; not real portraits, but free exercises of different
human attitudes, quite frequent in Burrini's work.
This genre has been considered a minor production in the past and thus
was often neglected by biographers. The palette is soft and dense with
prevalent brown tones and sudden chiaroscuro effects. The execution is
done with rapid brush strokes, an unusual technique in Bologna which
the artist learned from Venetian paintings.
Burrini's free and fluid style was enhanced after meeting Sebastiano
Ricci during his stay in Bologna, while working for the Ranuzzi family.
