of the arts and the Governor of Siena. Marco Boschini, an engraver, art dealer and author who was a great admirer of della Vecchia, often joined the artist when he was asked to value paintings after 1670. Della Vecchia was close to the humanistic and libertine circle around the Accademia degli Incogniti (Academy of the Unknowns), a learned society of freethinking intellectuals, mainly noblemen, that significantly influenced the cultural and political life of mid-17th-century Venice. Many of the subjects of his works were a reflection of the intellectual occupations of this influential Venetian society. For instance the charged eroticism in the Young couple is likely linked to the libertine attitudes of the Accademia. His son Gasparo Prospero was born on 8 May 1653 and became a minor painter, musician, music theoretician and mathematician. Pietro della Vecchia also had four daughters one of whom died young. Della Vecchia died on 8 September 1678 in Venice and was buried in the church of S. Canciano. Work Della Vecchia was a versatile and prolific painter who worked in many genres and created altarpieces, portraits, genre scenes and grotesques. He relied on the assistance of a large workshop, which explains his large output as well as the fact that many of his works are known in multiple versions. He dated his religious paintings but not his other works, which makes it difficult to understand the evolution of the artist in these other genres. During his career the artist worked in a variety of artistic styles and absorbed many influences including from contemporary artists as well as artists from the previous century. He combined in his work the monumentality of the 16th century Venetian art of artists such as Titian and Tintoretto with the dramatic effects of the style of the Caravaggisti. In line with the Venetian Baroque his works tend to push the sentiments of the depicted figures to the extreme. This penchant for exaggeration, even the grotesque, was central to della Vecchia's mature style and was influential on other artists. The artist developed a unique style, which was characterised by its pursuit of artistic virtuosity, and often depicted subject matter which was unusual and esoteric. These feature explains the high demand for his work by the more discerning Venetian collectors of his time. His earliest known works include two representations of Saint Francis, which display clear Caravaggesque tendencies. Some paintings of this early