Born in Rome to a little-known painter, Pietro Fetti, Domenico is said to
have apprenticed initially under Ludovico Cigoli, or his pupil Andrea Commodi in
Rome from circa 1604-1613. He then worked in Mantua from 1613 to 1622,
patronized by the Cardinal, later Duke Ferdinando I Gonzaga. In the Ducal
Palace, he painted the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes. The series of
representations of New Testament parables he carried out for his patron's
studiolo gave rise to a popular specialty, and he and his studio often repeated
his compositions.
In August or September 1622, his feuds with some prominent Mantuans led him to
move to Venice, which for the first few decades of the seventeenth century had
persisted in sponsoring Mannerist styles (epitomized by Palma the Younger and
the successors of Tintoretto and Veronese). Into this mix, in the 1620s–30s,
three "foreigners"—Fetti and his younger contemporaries Bernardo Strozzi and Jan
Lys—breathed the first influences of Roman Baroque style. They adapted some of
the rich coloration of Venice but adapted it to Caravaggio-influenced realism
and monumentality.
In Venice where he remained despite pleas from the Duke to return to Mantua,
Fetti changed his style: his formalised painting style became more painterly and
colourful. In addition, he devoted attention to smaller cabinet pieces that
adapt genre imaging to religious stories. His group of paintings entitled
Parables, which represent New Testament scenes, are at the Dresden
Gemäldegalerie. He influenced Leonaert Bramer.
His style appears to be influenced by Rubens. He would likely have continued to
find excellent patronage in Venice had he not died there in 1623 or 1624. Jan
Lys, eight years younger, but who had arrived in Venice nearly
contemporaneously, died during the plague of 1629-30. Subsequently, Fetti's
style would influence the Venetians Pietro della Vecchia and Sebastiano Mazzone.
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