Domenico Guidobono

Domenico Guidobono (1668-1746) was an Italian painter of easel paintings and frescoes, who together with his brother Bartolomeo Guidobono was one of the principal decorative painters active in Liguria and Piedmont in the late 17th and first half of the 18th century.

Domenico Guidobono was born in Savona as the son of Giovanni Antonio Guidobono and Geronima Cross. His father was a decorative painter of maiolica (ceramic earthenware), who worked for the royal court of Savoy. When he was baptized in the church of St. John the Baptist in Savona, his godfather was the Genovese painter Domenico Piola, one of the eminent members of the Piola family, which operated a large workshop known as the ‘Casa Piola’. It is likely therefore that in addition to being trained by his father Domenico Guidobono also benefited from training in the Casa Piola.

His older brother Bartolomeo (1654–1709) gained a major reputation as a decorative fresco painter. The career and life of Domenico have remained in the shadow of his more famous brother and therefore less is known about the younger brother’s training and career when compared to that of his elder brother. As from a young age Domenico travelled and worked with his brother on commissions, it has not always been possible to distinguish the work of either artist. There has been a tendency to attribute lesser quality works to the younger brother which has affected the reputation of the younger artist.

Despite a lack of documentary sources that can shed light on the early career of Domenico, it is assumed that the young artist travelled with his elder brother in the early 1680s to Turin where they worked during the years 1684-85 on frescoes for the Monastery of Casanova at Carmagnola, a small town near Turin. This was likely the first independent commission undertaken by the Guidobono brothers.

During this period Domenico also executed some canvases with biblical subjects, which are not documented, but have been attributed to him on stylistic grounds such as the ’’Susanna and the Elders’’ now in the Louvre. In subsequent years the brothers split their time between the Monastery in Casanova and Turin.

In 1705 the two brothers had definitely returned to Turin. Domenico was then already married to Maria Caterina and the couple had three children Maria Jacinta, Beatrice, and Vittorio as is known from census documents prepared in Turin in that year.

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