Giovanni
Lanfranco

Italia • 1582−1647

Biography and information

Giovanni Lanfranco (ital. Giovanni Lanfranco) (26 January 1582, Parma — 30 November 1647, Rome) was an Italian painter, the outstanding representative of the fresco painting of the high Baroque. In addition to the frescoes by Lanfranco, famous for its altar images.

Giovanni Lanfranco studied at Bologna by Agostino Carracci, and later his brother, Annibale Carracci. The latter contributed to his pupil in obtaining orders for the decoration of the Palazzo Farnese. Then Lanfranco lived and worked in his native city, and in Piacenza, and later reappeared in Rome.

In Rome its growing fame brought him plenty of orders. A large painting of the dome of the "Ascension of Mary" enjoyed particular success. Swamped with orders, Lanfranco began painting in a sloppy, watered-down manner.

For mosaic for the altar della Navicella in the Cathedral of St. Peter with the image of St. Peter walking on the water with Jesus in 1634 was followed by work on the painting of the Church of the Jesuits "Gesù Nuovo" in Naples.

Back in Rome the artist was patronized by Pope Paul V and urban VIII. The last work of Giovanni lanfranco, was the chapel of "San Carlo Catinari".

Critics include Giovanni Lanfranco the transitional period in Italian painting, from Carracci to school manner of painting Pietro da Cortona.