Giovanni Antonio Burrini

Giovanni Antonio Burrini was among the leading painters in Bologna during the last quarter of the 17th century. His works are notable for his incorporation for Baroque theatricality and his colorful palette. He received his early training with Domenico Maria Canuti, a fresco specialist, and he later trained under Lorenzo Pasinelli, from whom he was exposed to the practice of painting religious or mythological canvases for an upper-class clientele. Burrini began his career as a painter of frescoes and altarpieces, and his earliest easel paintings, such as the present, date to the late 1680s and early 1690s. By about 1700, Burrini's career began to decline, yet his activity towards the end of the 17th century his work left a palpable mark on the Bolognese artists of the next generation, including Donato Creti. Burrini explored the subject of the Adoration of the Magi on other occasions, including a canvas previously attributed to Palma Giovane, today in the Harvard Art Museums.¹We are grateful to Professore Daniele Benati for endorsing the attribution to upon inspection of digital photographs.

1. Inv. no. 1927.25, oil on canvas, 156.8 by 112.7 cm. https://hvrd.art/o/231745.