Benedetto Luti

Benedetto Luti
Self-Portrait
Born	(1666-11-17)17 November 1666 Florence, Italy
Died	17 June 1724(1724-06-17) (aged 57)
Nationality	Italian
Known for	Painting
Movement	Baroque

Benedetto Luti (17 November 1666 – 17 June 1724) was an Italian painter.

Early life

Luti was born in Florence on 17 November 1666.

Career

In 1691, he moved to Rome, where he was patronized by Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, an enthusiast of Luti's pastel portraiture. Luti was one of the first artists to work in pastels as the final composition as opposed to initial studies for paintings or frescoes. He also worked in oils and painted frescoes, including for the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano.

Luti was also a successful art dealer and ran a school of drawing; among his pupils were Giovanni Domenico Piastrini, Giovanni Paolo Panini, Claude Arnulphy, Jean-Baptiste van Loo, William Kent, Charles-André van Loo, Gaetano Sardi, Agostino Ratti, Pietro Bianchi, and Placido Costanzi.

Knighting

In 1720, he was knighted in the Academy of St Luke of Rome and elected Principe. The appointment was not without controversy, since some:

"could not find anything (of Luti's) worthy of memory for the benefit of the arts. Pascoli's of account Luti, found him a deep intellect, and even more knowledgeable of the works that he draws, although ... because he knew too much and was never satisfied, he oftentimes recycled thoughts and figures: he did not make friends with anyone, and for this reason, when was elected Prince of the Academy, there was not much applause."

The next year he dedicated himself to painting frescoes the cupola of the Church of Santi Luca e Martina in Rome.

Gallery

• 
  Pius V and the Ambassador of the King of Poland at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1712
• 
  Christ and the Woman of Samaria at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1715-20
• 
  Young Girl (1717), pastel on paper
• 
  Young Boy (1717), pastel on paper
• 
  Boy with the flute (c. 1720), oil on canvas
• 
  Apollo and Daphne, oil on canvas
• 
  Allegory of Wisdom
• 
  Rebecca at Well
• 
  St Catherine, oil on canvas
• 
  Seated Nude Male Figure (recto); Seated Figure (verso) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

References

• Peters Brown, E. (2000). "Benedetto Luti". Art in Rome in the Eighteenth Century. Philadelphia/London. pp. 392–399.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

• R. Maffeis, Benedetto Luti: l'ultimo maestro, Firenze, Mandragora, 2012.
• S. Sperindei, Nuovi spunti di ricerca su Benedetto Luti, in "Annali della Pontificia Insigne Accademia di Belle Arti e Lettere dei Virtuosi al Pantheon", 14 (2014), pp. 601-612.
• G. Sestieri, Risarcimenti a Benedetto Luti, in Studi di storia dell’arte in onore di Fabrizio Lemme, a cura di F. Baldassari, A. Agresti, Roma 2017,pp. 265-276.