Giovanni Battista Cecchi Biography
Giovanni Battista Cecchi (1748 - 1819) was an engraver and print dealer. Originally a carpenter, he abandoned the trade due to an injury to his right hand. He then dedicated himself to the art of drawing, under the guidance of the master Francesco Conti of the Grand Ducal Gallery in Florence, and subsequently to engraving, following in the footsteps of Ferdinando Gregori. He mainly used the burin and rarely the etching to reproduce paintings by Florentine artists.
Among his best-known engravings are those of the violinist Pietro Nardini, San Francesco da Paola, Vellano da Padova, Battista Franco, Leopold II with his family, Ferdinand III of Tuscany and his wife Luisa Maria Amalia of Bourbon-Naples and the reconstruction of Dante's tomb.
Cecchi collaborated with the engraver Benedetto Eredi for the creation of some works such as “Bonarum artium splendors XII tabulae a praestantissimis Italiae pictoribus expressae” and Divini poete Dantis Alighieri sepulcrum. He also engraved The twelve months of the year, from drawings by G. Zocchi and collaborated on the collection of "The most illustrious bas-reliefs in bronze and marble that can be seen to the public and in the private galleries of Florence by Gaetano Vascellini".
Finally, Cecchi contributed to the iconographic repertoire of the counter-revolution, recording the Insurrection of the Arezzo people against the French, the Fight in the Piazza del Duomo of Arezzo, The Loyalty of the Arezzo people and Cortona freed from the yoke of the French. The last work he completed in collaboration with Eredi was the cycle of engravings for the Life of Pope Pius VII, taken from drawings by G. Pera and Emilio Cateni. His engravings are preserved at the National Institute for Graphics in Rome.
