This artist,whose was active in Perugia from ca. 1630, died when he was only 48. Most of his works that are known from the literatures no longer survive. His students included his nephew, Pietro Montanini.
Perugia
Annunciation (1634)
Birth of St John the Baptist (ca. 1640)
This panel, which was originally on the altar of the Oratorio di San Giovanni Battista, is by Giovanni Francesco Bassotti. In the background, St Elizabeth, the mother of the new baby, is attended by servants and watched over by her husband, Zacharias. In the foreground, a servant hands the new baby to the Virgin Mary while another servant prepares a bath.
When Bishop Orazio Monaldi visited the oratory in 1644, he was critical of the content of the “novita depicta” (new picture) and required it to be amended, but there is no sign that this was ever put into effect.
The painting was moved from the altar to the sacristy at some point and then, in 2003, to the Museo Capitolare. It is now (2013) temporarily in Palazzo Vescovile.
St Augustine in Meditation (17th century)
This altarpiece, which is attributed to Giovanni Francesco Bassotti, was documented on the high altar of the church of the nunnery of Santa Lucia on a number of occasions between 1683 and 1822. It was subsequently moved to Sant’ Agostino (presumably in 1851, when the complex of Santa Lucia passed to the the Conservatorio Antinori. [It is still there ?]
The altarpiece depicts St Augustine kneeling in a landscape and looking up at two visions: the Crucifixion, on the left; and the Immaculate Virgin, on the right. Three putti around him play with his book, his staff and his mitre.
Christ in Meditation (17th century)
This panel is in Sant’ Agnese.
Annunciation (17th century)
Madonna and Child with saints (17th century)
Spello
Martyrdom of St Felix (1637)
Taddeo Donnola, the Prior of San Lorenzo, probably commissioned the altarpiece after he succeeded in having St Felix named as the sole patron saint of Spello in 1629. He had published a monograph in 1620 entitled: “De loco martyrii sanctii Felicis episcopi spellatensis” (About the place of martyrdom of St Felix, Bishop of Spello), in which he suggested that the place in question was near Villa Fidelia. In the altarpiece, the martyrdom takes place in front of a huge statue of Venus, which is a reference to the fact that the remains of a Roman temple dedicated to Venus had been found during the construction of Villa Fidelia in ca. 1600.
