Domenico Zampieri
|
Murder of St. Peter the Martyr. |
Domenico Zampieri (or
Domenichino) (
October 21,
1581 -
April 15,
1641), was a prominent high
Baroque Italian painter of the
Bolognese School, or Carracci School, of painters.
He was born at
Bologna, son of a shoemaker, and there was initially apprenticed under
Denis Calvart. Soon he left to work in the
Accademia degli Incamminati of the Carracci brothers. Leaving Bologna for Rome (1601), he became one of the most talented apprentices to emerge from
Annibale Carracci's supervision, working alongside a senior contemporary like
Albani and
Guido Reni, as well as lifetime rivals such as
Lanfranco.
Because of his stature, he was nicknamed "little Domenico". The panel depicting
The Maiden and the Unicorn (1604-5) in Annibale's Gallery series titled
The Loves of the Gods is attributed to Domenichino. Also in the
Palazzo Farnese he painted three mythologic landscapes in the Loggia del Giardino. With the support of
Monsignor Giovanni Battista Agguchi, the
maggiordomo to Cardinal
Aldobrandini and later
Gregory XV, and Giovanni's brother
Cardinal Girolamo Agguchi, Domenichino obtained commission for the Cappella dei Santissimi Fondatori in the medieval basilica of the
Abbey of Grottaferrata (1608-10) a few miles outside Rome, and where the titular abbot was
Odoardo Farnese. He also was commissioned for frescoes in church of
Sant'Onofrio. Albani saw that he participated in decorating the
Palazzo Mattei (1606-07) and
Villa Odescalchi at Bassano di Sutri (today
Bassano Romano). Reni worked with him on frescoes in the Oratorio di Sant'Andrea and at
San Gregorio Magno. Domenichino's next commissions were scenes
al fresco of the life of
St. Cecilia for the Polet Chapel of
San Luigi dei Francesi (1613-1614).
Working on
The Scourging of St. Andrew (a fresco in the church of San Gregorio Magno), the artist was rumored to work himself into a passion, using threatening words and actions, and that Annibale, surprising him, exclaimed with joy, "To-day, my dear Domenichino, thou art teaching me." Domenichino painted in fresco in
San Silvestro al Quirinale,
San Carlo ai Catinari,
Santa Maria in Trastevere,
Sant'Andrea della Valle and
Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome, as well as in the
Villa Aldobrandini at
Frascati.
In addition, both he and Annibale were among the few landscape artists among painters of the Roman baroque of their generation, and would influence
Claude Lorrain in the next.
Despite his prodigious output, Domenichino had a slow and labored style of painting, garnering him the nickname of
Bue ("Ox") among Carracci acolytes. He was considered unsociable by many, and ultimately excited the rivalry of
Lanfranco. Shortly after Domenichino had completed his celebrated papal commission for
Communion of St. Jerome (1614, Vatican Pinacoteca), Lanfranco circulated copies of Agostino Carracci's painting on the same theme [
1], alleging
plagiarism in the prodution of this painting initially destined for the church of
San Girolamo della Carità , associated with
St. Phillip Neri's Oratorian movement; and the work received, in general, great praise from contemporaries. Inspection of the two mirrored canvases would suggest that while he closely paraphrases Agostino, the accusation of
plagiarism is debatable, since Domenichino's treatment is sharper, less crowded, and more focused on the beggarly figure of St Jerome.
In 1630, Domenichino moved to
Naples, to work on a series of
frescoes (never wholly completed) of the life of
St. Januarius in the
Cappella del Tesoro. The so-called
Cabal of Naples formed by the painters
Corenzio,
Ribera and Caracciolo banded together as to exclude non-Napolitan competition, and criticized and defaced the Bolognese artist's work. For instance, it is said he often found his previous day's work was rubbed out. Whether constant anxiety or rumored poison assailed him, he died in Naples in 1641.
Domenichino, in the tradition of Annibale Carracci, restrained the late-
Mannerist and
Baroque impulses that were contorting the canvases of contemporaries; and aimed for a more settled peaceful representations.
The Virgin, Infant Jesus, and John the Baptist, (1599-1600,
Louvre Museum) [
2]
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin (1601) in the Rosary chapel of the
Basilica of San Domenico in Bologna.
Maiden with the Unicorn, (1602-4, Farnese Gallery,
Palazzo Farnese, Rome; fresco under direction by Annibale Carraci) [
3]
Abraham Leading Isaac to Sacrifice, (1602,
Kimbell Art Museum, Dallas) [
4]
Landscape with Baptism of Christ, (
Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna) [
5]
Martyrdom of Saint Cecilia, (
Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna)
Portrait of Cardinal Aguchi, (1605,
Uffizi, Florence) [
6]
Landscape with Flight into Egypt, (1605,
Oberlin College) [
7]
Landscape with Hermit, (1606,
Louvre) [
8]
Landscape with Fording, (1607,
Galleria Doria-Pamphilj)
imageScourging of Saint Andrew, (1608,
San Gregorio Magno, Rome, commissioned by Scipione Borghese) [
9]
The Rapture of St. Paul, (1608, Louvre) [
10]
Myth of Diana, (1609,
Palazzo Giustiniani, now Odescalchi, Bassano (di Sutri) Roman)
Exequeys for a Dead Emperor, (1612,
Prado Museum, Madrid)
Landscape with Fortifications, (1634-5, Denis Mahon Collection, London) [
11]
Cumaen Sybil, (1610,
Pinacoteca Capitolina, Rome) [
12]
Legends of SS. Nilus and Bartholomew, (1610, Abbey of
Grottaferrata commissioned by Odoarde Farnese)[
13][
14][
15][
16] [
17]
Triumphal Arch of Allegories, (1610, Prado Museum)
imageWay to Calvary, (1610, Getty Museum, California) [
18]
Communion of St Jerome, (1614, Vatican Pinacoteca) [
19] and [
20]
Scenes of the life of St. Cecilia (1613-1614)
Frescoes, San Luigi dei Francesi, Romeimage*:
Cecilia Giving Alms to the Poor*
Saint Cecilia before the JudgeLandscape with St Jerome, (Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum)
Landscape with Sylvia and Satyrs, (1614, Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna
Timocles captive before Alexander the Great, (1615,
Louvre Museum)
Chariot of Apollo, (1615,
Palazzo Costaguti, Rome)
Cumaen Sybil, (1617,
Galleria Borghese)
Madonna of the Rosary, (
Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna)
Hunt of Diana and Nymphs, (1617, Galleria Borghese)
Madonna and Child with Saints John the Baptist and Petronius, (1629,
Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome)
Saint Agnes, (1620, Royal Collection, Windsor)
Madonna of Loreto before Saints John the Baptist, Eligius, and Anthony Abbot, (1620,
North Carolina Museum of Art) [
21]
Reynaud and Armida, (1621, Louvre) [
22]
*Martyrdom of St Peter of Verona (copy after Titian)
, (1621, Pinacoteca Nazionale Di Bologna) [23]
*Myth of Apollo, (1622, Stanza di Apollo, Villa Belvedere (Aldobrandini), Frascati, now National Gallery, London)
Pendentives on Evangelists, (1622-28,
Sant'Andrea del Valle)
MatthewMarkLukeJohnScourging of St Andrew(Rome) [
24] [
25]
Landscape with Hercules battling Achelous, (1622, Louvre) based on Ovid's Metamorphosis, Cant. IX. [
26]
Saint Ignatius de Loyola's Vision of Christ and God the Father, (1620-22, Matthiesen Fine Art, London) commissioned by Cardinal
Odoarde Farnese for canonization, for the Casa Professa near Il Gesu during
Gregory XV papacy.
Landscape and the flight to Egypt, (1623, Louvre) [
27]
Landscape with Washer-women and Child, (1623, Louvre) [
28]
Adam and Eve, (1625, Musee des Beax-Arts, Grenoble) [
29]
An Allegory of Agriculture, Astronomy and Architecture, (1625,
Galleria Sabauda, Turin)
Rebuke of Adam and Eve, (1626, National Gallery Art, Washington D.C.) [
30]
Martyrdom of St. Agnes, (Galleria Nazionale of Bologna)
Death of Adonis, (Loggia of the Giardino,
Palazzo Farnese)
imageMartyrdom of St Sebastian, (
Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri)
Assumption of the Virgin, (
Santa Maria di Trastevere)
Landscape with Herminia and Shepherds, (1625, Louvre) Cant. VII, Tasso's
Jerusalem Liberated [
31]
Landscape with Hercules dragging giant Cacus out of cave]], (1622,
Louvre) from
Ovid's
Metamophosis [
32]
Saint Cecilia with an Angel, (1618, Louvre) [
33]
Saint Ignatius of Loyola's Vision of Christ and God the Father at La Storta, (1622, LA Museum of Art)
Sacrifice of Isaac, (1628, Prado Museum, Madrid)
Landscape with Hermit, (1623, Louvre)
Landscape and the Flight to Egypt, (1623, Louvre)
Frescoes in San Gennaro, (1631, Naples, unfinished) [
34]
Landscape with Tobias laying hold of the Fish, (1618, National Gallery, London)
Repose of Venice, (
Hermitage, St. Petersburg)
Assumption of Mary Magdalene into Heaven, (Hermitage, St. Petersburg)
The Domenichino Affair: Novelty, Imitation, and Theft in 17th-Century Rome on the plagiarism controversy; by Elizabeth Cropper, dean of the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art.
*
*
Brief biography at Web Gallery of Art*
Domenico in the Louvre.
*
Domenico at Cuidad de la pintura website
