Italian printmaker and miniaturist, Pittoni is known for his etched views of ancient ruins and extensive landscapes as well as ornamental prints that date mostly to the 1560s. These include a 1561 edition copying Hieronymus Cock’s Praecipua aliquot Romanae antiquitatis ruinarum monimenta (1551), the Imprese of 1562 that comprises emblems or devices for noble or noteworthy individuals and included verses by the literary figure Lodovico Dolce, and a further Imprese of 1566. Another etched series, which is undated, figures imaginary ancient ruins and sometimes incorporates mythological subjects. Paolo Veronese made use of two Pittoni etchings for his frescoes in Villa Barbaro at Maser, which were completed in the early 1560s. The series was later published in 1585, after Pittoni’s death, and the later prints may be distinguished by their B.P. monogram within the plates.
Vasari writes of Pittoni within the chapter on Marcantonio Raimondi in his 1568 edition of the Vite as follows: “Dopo costoro ha fatto cinquanta carte di paesi varij, e belli Batista pittore vicentino, e Battista del Moro veronese; et in Fiandra ha fatto Ieronimo Coca l’Arti liberali...” [After these people, fifty prints of various beautiful villages were made by the painter Battista from Vicenza, and Battista del Moro from Verona; and in Flanders Hieronymus Cock created the Liberal Arts...]. Barbara Maria Savy in 2019 published a lengthy essay addressing Vasari’s mention of Battista Pittoni and Battista del Moro, and she convincingly disentangles the works of these two artists.