Mariotti , Giovanni Battista (Giambattista). - He was born in Vicenza on December 5 1690 by Giambattista, master builder, and Margaret Battaglia. In 1707 the father was summoned to Venice to make the organ of St. Margaret and is probably on that occasion that the family moved to Venice, where he is living in the parish of St. Martial (De Rosa, p. 83). According to the sources (Zanetti, p. 61; Brandolese, p. 287), the formation of M. must have taken place in the workshop of Antonio Balestra, but no known records of its activities until 1716, when he registered for the first time in the guild of painters, in whose list appears again in 1719 for his charge of retaliation by the Militia mar ( De Rosa, pp. s 85.), and between 1726 and 1743 (Moschini, in Favaro).

The first works which we know dates from the early third decade: in 1721, in 1723 and in 1732 he worked in St. Stephen in Murano (De Rosa, p. 85) where the sources point out a painting of Moses turns his rod , now lost, and a painting on the ceiling depicting the Glory of s. Stephen (Zanetti, p. 457, which merges with s. Lorenzo), passed in S. Peter Murano (Moschini, II, 2, p. 419) and also lost. Even in the early twenties are probably dating the works for the Trinity Church of Chioggia, of which only the canvases with the Cardinal Virtues and Putti Musicians on the sides of the organs (De Rosa, pp. s 89.). Between 1722 and 1723 the M. realized the miracle of s. Thaddeus to the cycle of the apostles commissioned by Andrea Statius for the church of S. Stae (Zanetti, p. 439; Ivanoff, pp. 147-149). Certainly prior to 1733, when they are cited by Zanetti (pp. 171, 268, 390), must be the Venetian works Resurrection of Christ (in the sacristy of the Holy Apostles), signed, the Agony in the Garden (S. Vitale) and The Birth of Christ (St. Apollinaris), now lost.

At the end of the decade, M. was engaged in Verona, where he built the shovel with S. Carlo Borromeo in adoration of the Cross (Verona, Castelvecchio Museum) - which says an inscription on the back of the canvas commissioned by Charles Zenobio for the church of S. Charles at the Prisons in 1727 (Marinelli, p. 223) - and four paintings of the Old Testament for the church of SS Simon and Jude, cited by Lanceni and now lost.

The lack of documentary data relating to his works, however, makes it problematic history of the paintings made by M. in the early decades of its activity, which seems to oscillate between an academic tendency in the wake of Balestra and painting faster and "scrub" is set to accelerate with each passing year.

Between March and May of 1725 killed the parents of M. (De Rosa, pp. S 83.), And he moved to the parish of St. Matthew at Rialto, as evidenced by a list of contributors to the College of painters stretched between 1724 and 1728, showing also that he had no children (Favaro, p. 226). In the same parish M. still living in 1745, when a census will record in a house owned by Paul's Square, the husband of his sister Mary Catherine (De Rosa, pp. 84, 86). The declaration of free status of the latter also appears as a witness to the painter Matthias Bortoloni, himself a pupil of Balestra, who had to be in relationship with M, in turn, cited as witness in a measure affecting the daughter of Matthias (Id., p. 84). Between May and June of 1729 M. participated with Giovanni Battista Pittoni public inspection of the paintings of Venice as a conservative. In November of that year, always with Pittoni, signed a report on the status of paintings by Titian in the church of Health (Zava Boccazzi, p. 95th) and again in later years his name appears several times in the documents of the College of painters, where held various positions between 1731 and 1743 (De Rosa, p. 86).

Following the suggestions of De Rosa (p. 90), during the fourth decade hypothetically can be placed on the Martyrdom of s. Eurosia (Bassano, museum) returned to M. by Ivanoff (p. 151 with a date, however, close to 1720), the canvases with the Sacrifice of Isaac , and Abraham and the three angels (Belgrade, National Museum) reported by Gamulin, the ' Esther and Ahasuerus (Udine, Museum ) published by Pilo (1966, p. 307), while still much debated is the allocation of the M. the two plumes with the Consecration of Isaiah in the church Ospedaletto in Venice, assigned to M. by Ivanoff (p. 158) and Sponza and instead cleared from Pylos (1985) and De Rosa (p. 90).

Around 1740, the year he was consecrated the church, should ask themselves the altarpiece of the Martyrdom of s. Andrea (Sarcedo Vicenza, Parish: Ivanoff, p. 152) and, probably, the Madonna and Child with SS. Dominic and Catherine of Siena (Venice, Pinacoteca Querini-Stampalia), attributed to M. by Ivanoff (p. 158; Pallucchini, 1995, p. 569).

Production of mythological and profane M. the paintings are testimony with Olindo and Sophronia (Ascoli Piceno, Municipal Art Gallery), Erminia among the shepherds and Hercules and Omphale (Venice, Spanio collection, but from a villa Treviso) released by Ivanoff (pp. 153 ff.) with a dating to around 1740 (Pallucchini, 1995, p. 568), but advanced by De Rosa (pp. 89 ff.) between the third and fourth decades of the century and Mars and Cupid (Padua Museum: Spiazzi in From Padovanino Tiepolo ... , p. 265). Added to this are the large canvases from the ceiling like the time he discovers the truth (Venice, Pinacoteca Querini-Stampalia) and one with the Cardinal Virtues from Sagredo Palace in Venice, curtailed in a circle in the middle of last century to place it on the ceiling the hall of Palazzo Grassi (Pavanello, 1986, p. 187).

In the fifth decade of the century, M. Balestra walked away from the painting with works characterized by elongated figures, sometimes almost entirely hewn, and an overall darker tone, as shown by the S. Ignatius submitted to the pope (Venice, Accademia), the Sermon s. Francis Xavier (Brescia, Tosio Martinengo) and the significant body of works for the church of S. Cross in Padua: S. Elena in adoration of the Cross for the high altar and side altars for the four paintings: S. Anthony of Padua, s. And St. Francis of Paola. John Nepomuceno , S. Jerome Miani in prayer , the ' Guardian angel and lost Madonna and Child, s. Joseph and s. Anna (De Rosa, p. 90; Pallucchini, 1995, p. 569). Commissioned as part of the renovation of the church, begun in 1745 and concluded with the consecration of the building in 1749 (Spiazzi, p. 223), are mentioned by sources as the latest works by M. (Brandolese, p. 113) and dated between 1746 and 1747.

The M. died in Venice on Jan. 10. 1748 (1747 blackberries Venetian , De Rosa, pp. 86 s.).