Giovanni Lanfranco

Background

He was born on January 26, 1582, in Parma, Italy.

Education

He was a pupil of the Bolognese painter Agostino Carracci, and in 1602 he went to Rome to paint in the Casino Farnese as assistant to Agostino's brother, Annibale.

Career

He revisited Parma (1610 - 1612) and was vitally influenced by Correggio's cupola frescoes. Among his greatest works are the ceiling of the Casino Borghese (1616).

In Rome Lanfranco decorated Palazzo Mattei, Costaguti, and Casino Borghese (1624 - 1625), where he painted lighthearted deities and river gods within a framework of feigned caryatids and cornices.

His masterpiece was the illusionistic cupola of Sant' Andrea della Valle (1625 - 1628), the first of its kind in Rome; it was a Correggiesque vision of the heavenly hierarchies, moving in concentric circles around the risen Christ and embedded in clouds amid a multitude of angels.

He first painted the cupola of GesùGesu Nuovo and then the nave and choir of San Martino.

Finally, in the cupola of the Chapel of San Gennaro in the cathedral, he repeated the scheme of Sant' Andrea della Valle.

By his new treatment of light and atmosphere and effects of movement replacing solidity of form and definition of space, Lanfranco foreshadowed the romantic art of Guercino.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Giovanni Lanfranco

    (Publisher Electa-Milano 2001 paperback Binding and spine ...)

Personality

Lanfranco is considered one of the foremost artists of the High Baroque.