Naples
Where did Giovanni Lanfranco work from 1634 to 1646?
Giovanni Lanfranco Giovanni Lanfranco ( 26 January 1582 – 30 November 1647 ) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period . Biography . Giovanni Gaspare Lanfranco was born in Parma , the third son of Stefano and Cornelia Lanfranchi , and was placed as a page in the household of Count Orazio Scotti . His talent for drawing allowed him to begin an apprenticeship with the Bolognese artist Agostino Carracci , brother of Annibale Carracci , working alongside fellow Parmese Sisto Badalocchio in the local Farnese palaces . When Agostino died in 1602 , both young artists moved to Annibales large and prominent Roman workshop , which was then involved in working on the Galleria Farnese in the Palazzo Farnese gallery ceiling . Lanfranco is considered to have contributed to the panel of Polyphemus and Galatea ( replica in Doria Gallery ) and some minor works in the room . Afterwards , while still technically a member of the Carracci studio of Carracci , Lanfranco , along with Guido Reni and Francesco Albani , frescoed the Herrera ( San Diego ) Chapel in San Giacomo degli Spagnoli ( 1602–1607 ) . He also participated in the fresco decoration of San Gregorio Magno and of the Cappella Paolina in Santa Maria Maggiore . Independent work . By 1605 , Lanfranco was obtaining some independent commissions ; for example , he contributed paintings to the Camerino degli Eremiti in the Palazzetto Farnese ( also known as Casino della Morte ) , once a low building on the Via Giulia , adjacent to the church of Santa Maria dell’Orazione e Morte . The camerino had been constructed by Cardinal Odoardo Farnese , next to his palace and gardens , and was destroyed in 1734 to allow for the construction of the aforementioned church . Of the canvases and frescoes by Domenichino , Girolamo Pulzone , Paul Bril , and Lanfranco , some are conserved in the new church . Among other works , Lanfranco contributed to this series , the eccentric Translation of the Magdalen . After the death of Annibale Carracci in 1609 , and with the Emilian school of painting temporarily out of favor , Lanfranco returned to his native Parma for two years . There , he met Bartolomeo Schedoni and painted the altarpiece for the Ognissanti church . Lanfranco also produced paintings and altarpieces in Orvieto , Vallerano , Leonessa and Fermo . Return to Rome . After his return to Rome by 1612 , Lanfranco and competed with other Carracci students and assistants—including Reni , Albani , and Domenichino—for Roman patronage . Reni , however , was soon to depart for Naples and then Bologna . During the following decades in Rome , through the 1620s , Lanfranco and Domenichino engaged in a rivalry for the main fresco commissions . A measure of the competition can be gauged from Lanfrancos public accusation , not wholly without merit , that Domenichino had plagiarized Agostino Carracci in his painting of the Confession of St . Jerome , now in the Vatican . Unlike Domenichino , Lanfranco was fairly eclectic in terms of style but preferred a visionary , theatrical approach suitable for the ceiling paintings gaining currency in the early 17th century . His works suggest some influence from the late work of Ludovico Carracci , a cousin of Agostino and Annibale , and possibly from Caravaggio ( as , for example , in the altarpiece depicting the Inspiration of Saint Luke at Piacenza ( 1611 ) ) , though the stylistic importance of Caravaggio to Lanfranco has been disputed . In other works , he assimilated and adapted the style of his compatriot and predecessor of the 16th century , Antonio Correggio , as in his Adoration of the Shepherds painted before 1608 for the Marchese Clemente Sannesi and his brother the Cardinal Jacopo . In the teens , Lanfrancos studio became quite active , painting frescoes in the Palazzo Mattei and decorating the Buongiovanni Chapel in SantAgostino ( 1616 ) , which includes a Correggesque Assumption , along with easel paintings . His Annunciation ( 1615 ) in San Carlo ai Catinari in regarded as one of his best works . Soon , Lanfranco became the pre-eminent painter of circle of Pope Paul V . He painted frescoes for the Palazzo Costaguti and a large ceiling fresco in quadratura at the Villa Borghese , The Gods of Olympus or also called Council of the Gods . In the following year , Lanfranco together with Agostino Tassi and Carlo Saraceni decorated the Sala de Corazzieri and Sala Regia of the Palazzo del Quirinale . His formal Presentation at the Temple has the sunlit Carraci-like style . In 1622 , he painted the Ectasy of Saint Margaret of Cortona ( Galleria Platina , Palazzo Pitti , Florence ) as an altarpiece for Santa Maria Nuova in Cortona , where Margaret lived and died . The painting could well have inspired the pose in Berninis famous St Theresa in ecstasy . In 1623–1624 , he decorated the Sacchetti Chapel in San Giovanni dei Fiorentini in Rome . While Paul Vs successor , Gregory XV , preferred works by Guercino and Domenichino , Lanfranco won commissions for the Crucifix Chapel in Santa Maria in Vallicella . Lanfrancos crowning masterpiece , however , and one of the major church fresco decoration of the late 1620s , was his Assumption of the Virgin frescoed on the dome of SantAndrea della Valle . Completed in 1627 in sotto in su perspective , the crowded array of figures is a landmark in Baroque painting with bright golden coloration and energy . Lanfranco was influenced by Correggios pioneering decoration of the Duomo di Parma . Urban VIII commissioned him a large fresco portraying St . Peter Walking on Waters ( 1628 , now fragmentary ) , for which Lanfranco gained the title of Knight of the Order of Christ . In 1631 , Lanfranco was named Prince ( Principe ) of the Academy of Saint Luke , the artists guild in Rome . There is also a fresco by Giovanni Lanfranco above the monument of Pope Clement VIII in Santa Maria Maggiore in ( Rome ) . From 1634 to 1646 , Lanfranco began decorating the dome and pendentives of the Jesuit church of the Gesù Nuovo in Naples in 1634–1637 . In 1637–1638 , he frescoed the nave and choir of the Certosa of San Martino . This was followed by the decoration of Santi Apostoli in 1638-1646 and the dome of the Cappella of San Gennaro in the Cathedral of Naples . These works would invigorate the efforts of the grand manner Napolitan painters of the second half of the 17th century : Preti , Giordano and Solimena . He died in Rome in 1647 , where his last work was apse of San Carlo ai Catinari . Legacy and critical assessment . Lanfranco was a versatile and eclectic trainee of the Carracci , and continued their tradition with dramatic flair compared to the often restrained Domenichino , who mimicked mainly Annibales grand manner . Lanfranco explored new styles , bridged traditions , painted in both mannerist and baroque styles , using a tenebrist and the colorist palette . Among his pupils was Giacinto Brandi . Selected works . - Venus plays the Harp , Galleria Nazionale dArte Antica , Rome ( Palazzo Barberini ) - Alexander tended by the doctor and Alexander refusing water to drink from his men - Annunciation ( c . 1615 ) , San Carlo ai Catinari , Rome - Coronation of the Virgin with St . Augustine and St . William of Aquitaine - Hagar in the wilderness ( Louvre ) - Liberation of Saint Peter ( c . 1620–21 ) , Birmingham Museum of Art , Alabama - Palazzo Quirinale frescoes External links . - Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi , a fully digitized exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries , which contains material on Giovanni Lanfranco ( see index ) - Lanfranco exhibition in Parma & Rome , with biography and many works - Six works by Lanfranco , including Assumption of the Virgin