Antiveduto Grammatica

Who was Antiveduto Grammatica?

Antiveduto Grammatica was a proto-Baroque Italian painter, active near Rome.

Grammatica was born in either Siena or Rome. According to Giovanni Baglione the artist was given the name Antiveduto because his father had a premonition that he would be soon be born during a journey between his native Siena and Rome. It was in Rome that Antiveduto was baptised, raised and based his career. His apprenticeship with the Perugian artist Giovanni Domenico Angelini introduced him to small-scale work, mostly on copper. He gained the nickname "gran Capocciante" because he specialised in painting heads of famous men. A decade later, in 1591, Antiveduto set up as an independent artist.

Grammatica's earliest surviving public commission, an old-fashioned configuration depicting Christ the Saviour with St. Stanislaus of Krakow, St. Adalbert of Prague and St. Hyacinth Odrowaz, was painted for the high altar of San Stanislao dei Polacchi. Characterized by Giulio Mancini as most zealous in his profession, Antiveduto began his association with the Accademia di San Luca in 1593.