![Giovanni Battista Piazzetta - Rebecca at the Well [c.1740]](http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1604/24200257720_8bd669d4b5_o.jpg)
Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (Venice, February 13, c.1682 - Venice, April 28, 1754) was an Italian painter. Piazzetta created an art of warm, rich color and a mysterious poetry. He often depicted peasantry, even if often in a grand fashion. He was highly original in the intensity of color he sometimes used in his shadows, and in the otherworldly quality he gave to the light which throws part of a composition into relief. Also notable are his many carefully rendered drawings of half-length figures or groups of heads. Usually in charcoal or black chalk with white heightening on grey paper, these are filled with the same spirit that animates his paintings, and were purchased by collectors as independent works.
[Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan - Oil on canvas, 102 x 137 cm]