Giovanni Battista Ricci (Novara, circa 1537 – Rome, 1627) nicknamed Il Novara after his birth town, was an Italian painter of the late- Mannerist and early-

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 Rome.

Biography

Ricci moved to Rome from his native Piedmont during the papacy of Gregory XIII and was registered with the guild of painters by 1581. He was active in the fresco decoration (1590-1593) of the

Scala Sancta The ( en, Holy Stairs, it, Scala Santa) are a set of 28 white marble steps that are Roman Catholic relics located in an edifice on extraterritorial property of the Holy See in Rome, Italy proximate to the Archbasilica of Saint John in Lateran ...

in Santa Maria Maggiore, in the decoration (1597-1613) of San Marcello, and (1619) Santa Maria in Traspontina. He was influenced by Federico Zuccari. He also painted in the Vatican Library and the church of Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini. In 1617–1620, Ricci collaborated with

Cristoforo Greppi Cristoforo Greppi (Active early 17th century) was an Italian painter of the Mannerist period, active in Rome. He was born in Como, Region of Lombardy, in Italy. He worked circa 1600 with Prospero Orsi and Francesco Nappi under the guidance of C ...

, a painter from Lombardy, in designing and painting the frescoes for the Castellani Chapel in San Francesco a Ripa. Ricci and his assistants executed several frescoes and paintings in the church of

San Giacomo Scossacavalli San Giacomo Scossacavalli (''San Giacomo a Scossacavalli'') was a church in Rome important for historical and artistic reasons. The church, facing the Piazza Scossacavalli, was built during the early Middle Ages and since the early 16th century ...

Borgo Borgo may refer to the following places: Finland * Borgå France * Borgo, Haute-Corse Italy * Borgo (rione of Rome), a ''rione'' in the City of Rome. *Borgo a Mozzano, in the province of Lucca *Borgo d'Ale, in the province of Vercelli *Borgo di ...

, destroyed in 1937. Ricci was an excellent draftsman, working primarily in pen and brown ink, although a handful of studies in chalk are also known.R. Eitel-Porter, "Giovanni Battista Ricci da Novara" in: ''Disegno, giudizio e bella maniera. Studi sul disegno italiano in onore di Catherine Monbeig Goguel'', edited by P. Costamagna, F. Harb, and S. Prosperi Valenti Rodino, Silvana Editoriale, Cinisello Balsamo (Milan), 2005, pp. 108-109

References

16th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 17th-century Italian painters Italian Baroque painters Italian Mannerist painters 1530s births 1627 deaths {{Italy-painter-16thC-stub