Giovanni Maria delle Piane, called Mulinaretto (Italian, Genoa 1660 to 1745)
Giovanni Della Piane was one of the leading portraitists of the late Baroque in Italy, becoming court painter to the Farnese at their courts at Parma and Piacenza, and later to the Bourbons at Naples (no doubt due to the artist’s relationship with Elisabetta Farnese, the mother of Carlo VII of Naples, whom he had painted numerous times). He was trained in his native Genoa by Giovanni Battista Merano, and later, during a sojourn in Rome, by Giovanni Battista Gaulli, called Baciccio. His style was eminently suited to royal taste, amalgamating the French manners of Rigaud and Largillierre with a uniquely Italian approach to ornament and lighting.
Information courtesy of Sotheby’s, January, 2008.