Galli-Bibiena
Italian family of painters, architects and designers. For three
generations they were prominent in many Italian cities and
throughout the Habsburg empire. The founder of the dynasty was
Giovanni Maria Galli-Bibiena (b Bibiena, nr Bologna, 1625;
d Bologna, 21 June 1665), who was a pupil and much-prized
assistant of Francesco Albani (being, apparently, particularly adept
at the depiction of water). He produced faithful copies of his
master’s paintings. His surviving independent works include a fine
Ascension (1651; Bologna, Certosa) and, in the church of Buon
Gesù, Bologna, a frescoed St Bernardino and two sibyls. His
daughter Maria Oriana Galli-Bibiena (b Bologna, 1656; d
Bologna, 1749) studied with Carlo Cignani and Marcantonio
Franceschini and specialized in portraits and history pictures. She
married the landscape painter Gioacchino Pizzoli (1661–1773), and
their son Domenico Pizzoli (1687–1720) was also a painter. Giovanni
Maria had two sons, Ferdinando Galli-Bibiena and Francesco
Galli-Bibiena, who trained as painters but became best known for
architectural design and the creation of festival decorations.
Ferdinando in his turn had several children who were artists:
Alessandro Galli-Bibiena (b Parma, 1687; d before
1769), Giovanni Maria Galli-Bibiena ( fl Prague, 1739–69),
Giuseppe Galli-Bibiena and Antonio Galli-Bibiena. Alessandro
became architect and painter to the Elector Palatine Charles Philip
(reg 1716–42) and in 1719 supervised the building of the
right wing of the Schloss at Mannheim (destr.). Between 1733 and
1756, under Charles Theodore Wittelsbach, Elector of Bavaria, he
designed the Jesuit church in Mannheim. Giovanni Maria worked as a
painter and architect until his marriage to a wealthy woman obviated
the necessity. Giuseppe was his father’s pupil and assistant at the
Habsburg court in Vienna before embarking on an influential career
that took him to the main cities of the Habsburg empire. Antonio
also worked with his father, in Bologna, and with his uncle
Francesco in Rome and his brother Giuseppe in Vienna, before
pursuing an independent career as architect, designer and painter.
Giovanni Carlo Galli-Bibiena (d Lisbon, 20 Nov 1760), the son
of Francesco, was a member of the Accademia Clementina, Bologna. In
Bologna he decorated the staircase of Palazzo Savini and the
Cappella di S Antonio in S Bartolommeo di Porta Ravegnana. He also
produced a scheme for the decoration of the high altar of S Petronio,
Bologna, for the Bolognese Pope Benedict XIV. He was then (1752)
summoned by Joseph, the King of Portugal, to Lisbon, where he
designed an opera house next to and communicating with the royal
palace. It was completely destroyed only seven months after
completion in the notorious earthquake of 1755. Finally, Carlo
Galli-Bibiena, son of Giuseppe, found work throughout Europe as a
designer of court and festive decoration and, most notably, as a
theatre architect.