VIANI, Giovanni Maria

Italian painter, part of a family of painters, parent of Domenico Maria Viani. He was a pupil of Flaminio Torri, and his first paintings (datable to c. 1650) suggest the art of Guido Reni, absorbed through a study of Cantarini. Under the influence of Lorenzo Pasinelli, a colleague of his in Torri's workshop, his forms gained solidity, but the mood of his paintings remained elegiac. This development is evident in two works in the Santuario della Madonna di San Luca in Bologna: Mary Magdalene and the altarpieceGLOSSARYA picture or sculpture that stands on or is set up behind an altar. The term reredos is used for an ornamental screen or partition, not directly attached to the altar table but affixed to the wall behind it. A diptych is an altarpiece consisting of two panels, a triptych one of three panels, and a polyptych one of four or more panels. From the 14th to 16th century, the altarpiece was one of the most important commissions in European art; it was through the altarpiece that some of the most decisive developments in painting and sculpture came about. of St Pius V with the Polish Ambassador, which was probably painted in the same early period.

The first documents relating to the artist and his first securely attributed works come from 1677: St Roch (Bologna, Santi Vitale e Agricola) and the four frescoed lunettes in the porticoGLOSSARYUsually open porch supported by columns or pillars on the main entrance side of a buildings. Frequently supports a pediment. of Santa Maria dei Servi, representing miraculous episodes of the life of San Filippo Benizi: Preaching to the Council of Lyon, Healing of the Sick, Succoured by Angels in the Desert and Ascending to Heaven. The canvasGLOSSARYA woven cloth used as a support for painting. The best-quality canvas is made of linen; other materials used are cotton, hemp, and jute. It is now so familiar a material that the word 'canvas' has become almost a synonym for an oil painting, but it was not until around 1500 that it began to rival the wooden panel (which was more expensive and took longer to prepare) as the standard support for movable paintings (the transition came later in Northern Europe than in Italy). Canvas is not suitable for painting on until it has been coated with a ground, which isolates the fabric from the paint; otherwise it will absorb too much paint, only very rough effects will be obtainable, and parts of the fabric may be rotted by the pigments. It must also be made taut on a stretcher or by some other means. of St Benedict with the Peasants (signed and dated 1689; Bologna, San Michele in Bosco) is a copy of the lost frescoGLOSSARYWall painting technique in which pigments are applied to wet (fresh) plaster (intonaco). The pigments bind with the drying plaster to form a very durable image. Only a small area can be painted in a day, and these areas, drying to a slightly different tint, can in time be seen. Small amounts of retouching and detail work could be carried out on the dry plaster, a technique known as a secco fresco. painted by Reni in the cloisterGLOSSARYquadrilateral enclosure surrounded by covered walkways, the centre of activity for the inhabitants of a monastery. of the same church. It forms a pair with St Bernard Tolomei Restores a Builder to Life (1693). One of Viani's most interesting pictures is Diana and Endymion (1680s; Turin, Accademia Albertina), which shows a refined handling of colour.

In the 1690s he produced St Andrew (Ozzano dell'Emilia, Sant'Andrea), a work that demonstrates his individual interpretation of the Carracci school. His latest dated works are the two large ovals depicting the Virgin Appearing to St Ignatius and Christ Appearing to St Ignatius (1696) in the church of San Bartolomeo, Modena.