Agostino Melissi (c.1616,

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

– 1683, Florence) was an Italian painter of the

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

period; active mainly in Florence.

Biography

He began as a pupil of

Matteo Rosselli Matteo Rosselli (10 August 1578 – 18 January 1650) was an Italian painter of the late Florentine Counter- Mannerism and early Baroque. He is best known however for his highly populated grand-manner historical paintings. Biography He first app ...

then, from 1634, served an apprenticeship in the studios of

Giovanni Biliverti Giovanni Biliverti (surname also written as Bilivelt and Bilivert or other variants) (Florence, 25 August 1585 – Florence, 16 July 1644) was an Italian painter of the late-Mannerism and early-Baroque period, active mainly in his adoptive city o ...

.Filippo Baldinucci, ''Notizie de’ professori del disegno…'' (1681-1728), F. Ranalli, IV, Florence, 1846, pp.316-320 Many of his early works would be attributed to his teacher. One of the first to be identified as his was a "

Pietà The Pietà (; meaning "pity", "compassion") is a subject in Christian art depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus after his body was removed from the cross. It is most often found in sculpture. The Pietà is a specific form o ...

", now lost, created for the

Medicis The House of Medici ( , ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici, in the Republic of Florence during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the Mu ...

in 1638. His first signed work is from 1640: an altarpiece depicting Saint Catherine of Alexandria, at the Basilica of the Santissima Annunziata. Contemporary records also mention four works from the 1640s at the church of San Giovanni Battista, Pistoia, which was destroyed during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

.Giuliana Guidi and Daniela Marcucci (Edds.), ''Il Seicento fiorentino. Arte a Firenze da Ferdinando I a Cosimo III'' (exhibition catalogue), Florence 1986, Cantini, pp.123-126 His work for the (

tapestry Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both the warp and the weft threads may ...

factory) through 1674 is well-documented. There, he made drawings (known as cartoons) of works by

Andrea del Sarto Andrea del Sarto (, , ; 16 July 1486 – 29 September 1530) was an Italian painter from Florence, whose career flourished during the High Renaissance and early Mannerism. He was known as an outstanding fresco decorator, painter of altar-pieces, ...

and many others for use in the weaving process. He also made cartoons, after Del Sarto and Franciabigio, for

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

es at the

Chiostro dello Scalzo The Chiostro della Scalzo or (Via Cavour, 69 vicino a Piazza San Marco) is a cloister in Florence, Italy that originally led to a chapel once belonging to a religious company known as the ''Compagnia del diciplinati di San Giovanni Battista'' or ' ...

. In 1645. he made his first application for membership in the

Accademia delle Arti del Disegno The Accademia delle Arti del Disegno ("Academy of the Arts of Drawing") is an academy of artists in Florence, Italy. Founded as Accademia e Compagnia delle Arti del Disegno ("Academy and Company of the Arts of Drawing") on 13 January 1563 by ...

. Five years later, he began a series of paintings dealing with the life of

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...

. In 1666 he designed a tapestry depicting

Cosimo de' Medici Cosimo di Giovanni de' Medici (27 September 1389 – 1 August 1464) was an Italian banker and politician who established the Medici family as effective rulers of Florence during much of the Italian Renaissance. His power derived from his wealth ...

upon his triumphant entry into

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuri ...

. His last signed and dated work is a depiction of the

Virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

interceding with the

Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...

, for the church of . He worked on it from 1657 to 1674 and left it unfinished. He died sometime in late 1683, and was interred at the

Monastero delle Murate Monastero delle Murate (Monastery of Murate) is a former Benedictine convent on Via Ghibellina in Florence, Italy. For about a hundred years, from 1883 to 1985, it was the men's prison in Florence, after which the detainees were transferred to Soll ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Melissi, Agostino 1616 births 1683 deaths 17th-century Italian painters Italian male painters Painters from Florence Italian Baroque painters

Biography

References

Further reading

External links