Domenico Olivero (1679 – 1755), Bowls players

Domenico Olivero (Turin, 1 August 1679 – 13 January 1755)

Bowling game

Oil painting on canvas

Expertise by Prof. Alberto Crispo

The painting illustrated here depicts farmers playing bowls near a farmhouse, while one of them offers sweets to a little girl. The canvas, in my opinion, can be traced back to the hand of Pietro Domenico Olivero (Turin, 1 August 1679 – 13 January 1755), as revealed by comparisons with other works by the artist, such as the Peasants' Feast formerly in the Gilberto Zabert Gallery of Turin, where we find a completely similar layout, with the figures crowded near the building, located on the left, and some household goods stacked on the right, including a copper cauldron almost identical to the one outlined in our painting. But see also other similar subjects painted by the Turin artist, such as the Game of Bocce already at the Galleria Cantore in Modena or the other version on the Genoese market in 2019, which, although radically different on a compositional level, confirm the interest of painter for the playful themes and manifest the same ways in outlining the characters, with synthetic and robust brushstrokes. The artist was born in Turin, in the parish of San Tommaso, on 1 August 1679 to Giovanna and Francesco, a carver by profession. He trained in the workshop of the painter and architect Melchiorre Baldassarre Bianco. He was appreciated by Vittorio Amedeo II of Savoy, who commissioned paintings from him for the Venaria Reale (1714), for the Royal Palace of Turin (1716) and for the castle of Rivoli (1724), as well as by his ministers Pietro Mellarède and Carlo Vincenzo Ferrero di Roasio marquis d'Ormea whose collections contained many examples of the painter. His success on the Turin artistic scene earned him the election as prior of the Accademia di San Luca in Turin (1726). In 1731 he painted the eleven canvases with Stories of Franciscan saints in the sacristy of the church of San Tommaso in Turin, while in 1734 he created the Wedding at Cana for the sanctuary of Oropa. The Savoy commissions continued with the ten canvases executed for the castle of Agliè (1737), the decoration of the third chamber of the New Archives in the Royal Palace of Turin (1739-41) and the thirty works for the hunting lodge of Stupinigi (1748 -51). The painter was also involved in designing sets for the Teatro Regio in Turin (1745-46). He made his will on 15 November 1754 and died in his hometown on 13 January 1755. Olivero's genre scenes, like the one commented here, reveal his attention to Flemish painting, in particular to David Teniers the Younger, Peter Mauritz Bolckman, Theodor Helmbreker and Cornelis de Wael, as well as for the Roman bamboccianti, such as Pieter van Laer, Michelangelo Cerquozzi and Jan Miel. His students and followers of his style were Angela Maria Pittetti and Giovanni Michele Graneri.

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