New Volume Celebrates Painter Andrea Celesti’s Work on Lake Garda

The “Friends of the Painter Andrea Celesti” presented the volume “Andrea Celesti, a Painter on Lake Garda” in Castiglione, in collaboration with the Soprintendenza per i beni artistici – which is the publisher – and with the Municipality.

The volume represents the successful culmination of a not-so-simple initiative started in 1989 in collaboration with the Soprintendenza, which allowed for the publication of three volumes: the first in 1994 dedicated to Zenone Veronese, published by the Lions Club di Desenzano, the second dedicated to Giovanni Andrea Bertanza, whose work of the Holy Family can be found in the Duomo of Castiglione.

Three painters of Venetian school who operated in the “Magnifica Patria” of Salò, collected in a trilogy represented by three monographs of little-known painters, but whose works deserve attention, cataloging, and critical analysis.

With the third volume, the cataloging method was also followed to ensure continuity and unity of the initiative and to assist the Soprintendenza in its challenging survey of the artistic heritage.

Study and reconstruction of Celesti’s activity

The study, conducted over the past three years by Isabella Marelli, systematically addresses the reconstruction of the late period of Celesti’s activities, who was born in Venice in 1637, and came into contact with the Brescia area, eventually settling definitively in Toscolano, probably during 1687.

In 1688, he appears on one of the canvases decorating the presbytery of the church of Toscolano, which is most likely the first record of the master’s activity in Brescia territory.

From this point, commissions multiply for both religious and private buildings: many works by Celesti are found in Desenzano, then in Lonato, and in other locations in Brescia.

For the results achieved, the academic world – and not just the Soprintendenza – has reason to thank the “Friends of Andrea Celesti,” who, through their generosity, made possible this stimulating study of the master’s activity and presence on Garda.

Equally essential is the contribution of Emanuela Tonoli, who passionately and competently carried out the entire photographic campaign, ensuring the volume a collection of images perfectly aligned with the efforts of the historical and artistic research, contributing to its completeness.

Ilaria Martini