A prodigy’s portrait
THE Veronese painter Giambettino Cignaroli (1706–70) was a remarkably quick worker. On January 6, 1770 he started work on a portrait of a young celebrity who was visiting the city with his father, intending to have a good session on the morrow. However, thanks to a local bishop, who was intent on monopolising Leopold Mozart and his 13-year-old son, Wolfgang, the artist had only two hours to work on the boy’s likeness before they sat down to lunch with the
