Giampietro Zanotti (1674 – 1765) was an Italian artist. He had an active career as a painter, but today many people best known him as a writer. He studied painting with Lorenzo Pasinelli in Bologna. While studying, he adopted the graceful, distinctive Rococo palette. Zanotti knew many outstanding authors and scholars and wrote widely on art-related subjects. At the age of 36, he contributed a defense of the works of Guido Reni in a controversy concerning the concepts of "weakness” and "delicateness" in painting. He also became a founding member of the Accademia Clementina. His written works include a 1703 biography of his painting teacher. He also wrote a biography about Giovanni Gioseffo Dal Sole, who was a painter and his close friend. His most famous written work is his 2-volume history of the academy, which he wrote in 1739.
The goal of the academy was to instruct young students in the tradition established by the Carracci. Most of his later books related to his activity in the Accademia. He had a son, Eustachio Zanotti, who was a noted mathematician and astronomer. Among Zanotti’s pupils was Ercole Lelli, who was best known for his anatomic studies in wax. His brother, Francesco Maria, was a philosopher in Bologna. He loved colors and used them to effectively bring his subjects to life. His images have been exhibited in galleries across Italy and beyond, and have been used commercially in several areas. He always strived to create images that go beyond the everyday facade to capture the meaning and essential character of his subjects.
