Giovanni Battista Natali, also known as Joan(nes) or Ioannes Baptista Natali (Pontremoli, 1698 – Piacenza, 1768), was an Italian painter and draughtsman of the late-Baroque period, active in his natal (?) city of Piacenza,[apparent contradiction] but also Savona, Lucca, and Naples, and finally Genoa in 1736. Filippo De Boni (or De Bòni) lists four artists with this same name, who are perhaps different from the above. Oxford Art Online also lists four artists with this same name, among other Natali family members, with the following descriptions: It is very likely that the 45 views mentioned under 4. above originate from a bilingual book (Latin and Italian) by Paolo Antonio Paoli, president of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in Rome (1775-1798), treating the subject of the "Remains of the Antiquities Existing in Pozzuoli, Cumae, and Baiae", published in 1768 in Naples. [see Sources below] A number of plates showing different views (in Italian: s. Veduta, pl. Vedute) of ruins from Antiquity(see inserted images of engravings on the right) are signed by Joan. Baptista Natali, del(in). (draughtsman), & Joan. Volpato, sculp. Venetiis, who was the engraver. This is strong evidence that Giovanni Battista Natali III (Piacentino) was also known under the name '''Joan. or Ioann. Baptista Natali''', a Latinised name no doubt, further corroborated by sources from the Library of Congress (LOC), USA and the German Archaeological Institute (DAI). The Metropolitan Museum of Art possesses a set of drawings by an Italian artist named Giovanni Battista Natali III (Pontremoli, Tuscany, 1698 – Naples, 1765). Oddly enough the same place and date of birth, but a different place of death as under 4. above.[ambiguity calls for further investigations]

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