Bartolomeo Nazari was born in
Clusone, near
Bergamo, to a lower-middle class family. By 1716, he had become an apprentice under
Angelo Trevisani. In 1723 he visited the Roman studio of Angelo's brother,
Francesco Trevisani. He also studied with
Benedetto Luti. Nazari may have known
Fra Galgario, the renowned portraitist from Bergamo, and is described by some as his pupil. He returned to Venice in 1724, and was registered with the
Fraglia dei Pittori, the Venetian
painters' guild, by 1726. In 1744, he travelled to
Frankfurt to paint the
emperor Charles VII and his family and other members of the court. In 1756, he was inducted into the newly founded
Accademia di Belle Arti of Venice. His son
Nazario Nazari was also a painter, as was his daughter
Maria. Among his patrons were Consul
Joseph Smith and the former general
Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg (who owned over eight of his portrait paintings). He painted the portraits of a number of operatic singers including
Farinelli. He died in Milan, returning from
Genoa, where he had painted the
Doge Giovanni Giacomo Grimaldi. ==Works==