He was born in S. Matteo della Decima (Bologna) in 1734. As a teenager he dedicated himself to artistic studies in Bologna with his brother Ubaldo. Read the full biography
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He was born in S. Matteo della Decima (Bologna) in 1734. As a teenager he dedicated himself to artistic studies in Bologna with his brother Ubaldo. He was a pupil of the sculptors and anatomists Ercole Lelli and Felice Torelli. He studied at the Clementino Institute and is known for having won numerous Massigli prizes and various Fiori prizes for his exquisite relief sculptures. Gaetano's first paintings date back to the end of the 1950s (S. Girolamo and S. Maria Maddalena, Bazzano, Oratorio del Suffragio; with his brother Ubaldo they decorate the gallery of Palazzo Malvasia). His friendship with the entrepreneur Antonio Buratti led him to the important work of copying the works of Pellegrino Tibaldi and Nicolò dell'Abate on the sculpted panels of Palazzo Poggi, collected in precious books. The commission will then collect reproductions of the most important paintings in the church of Bologna (Bologna, Cassa di Risparmio collection) and the "Viaggio dei premi" (1760) in Venice, where Brati aimed to promote the young and talented artist's interest in Incenso learned of the city's paintings from Tiepolo and became its patron. His return from Venice puts him on stage in Bologna, offering him commissions for altarpieces (Glory of Angels, Bologna, S. Maria della Carità; The Miracle of Blessed Piccolomini, Rome, Vatican Gallery) and profane paintings. At the same time, the painter worked tirelessly to paint with virtuosity, an activity that he continued throughout his life - creating the valuable sheets, today admired in private and public collections around the world - - and, like Ubaldo, he painted the heads of the characters. Starting from the 1970s, a gradual maturation of his painting can be observed, suggesting a further cultural expansion in which the classical component is strengthened (today Bologna, wedding in Ghana in the refectory of the convent of San Salvador, Pinacoteca Nazionale; frescoes in Palazzo Centurione of Bologna, decoration of the dome of S. Maria della Vita). The works are divided into balanced religious beliefs, also evident in the altarpieces and classroom paintings, while in the fresher and more interesting profane paintings, mythological themes alternate with those of the great classical writers of the time (Diogenes) and Alexander , Zurich, private collection and The Death of Socrates, Bologna, Trenta Collection). In 1788 Gaetano accepted his friend Dalton's invitation to go to London for a few months, where he would encounter a new reality from a socio-cultural and artistic point of view, and would leave traces in his latest portraits and secular paintings. He died in Bologna on 20 June 1802. He attempted a solemn funeral, attempting in a short installation to imitate that of Agostino Carracci, the work of the most important members of the Academy of Fine Arts. A few years later a funerary monument was erected in the Certosa, the result of a new collaboration between the artists.
