Mario Minniti (8 December 1577 – 22 November 1640) was an Italian artist active in Sicily after 1606. Born in Syracuse, Sicily, he arrived in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in 1593, where he became the friend, collaborator, and model of the key Baroque painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610). His main fame today is his identification, or proposed identification, as a model in many of Caravaggio's early works, including ''

Boy with a Basket of Fruit ''Boy with a Basket of Fruit'' is an oil on canvas painting generally ascribed to Italian Baroque master Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, created ''c.'' 1593. It is held in the Galleria Borghese, in Rome. Background The painting dates from t ...

'', '' The Fortune Teller'', '' The Musicians'', ''

Boy Bitten by a Lizard ''Boy Bitten by a Lizard'' (Italian: ''Ragazzo morso da un ramarro'') is a painting by the Italian Baroque painter Caravaggio. It exists in two versions, both believed to be authentic works of Caravaggio, one in the Fondazione Roberto Longhi ...

'' (probable), ''

Bacchus In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; grc, wikt:Διόνυσος, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstas ...

'', ''

The Lute Player The Lute Player, The Tsaritsa Harpist or The Tsaritsa who Played the Gusli (russian: Царица-гусляр), is a Russian fairy tale. It was published by Alexander Afanasyev in his collection ''Russian Fairy Tales'', as number 338. Andrew La ...

'', '' The Calling of Saint Matthew'', and '' The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew''. He ceases to appear as a model after about 1600, when he is believed to have married, but he may have been involved with Caravaggio and others in the 1606 street brawl which resulted in the death of Ranuccio Tomassoni at Caravaggio's hands – his biographer records that he fled to Sicily following a homicide, from where he petitioned for a pardon (it was eventually granted), and it is known that he sheltered Caravaggio during the latter's stay in Sicily in 1608–1609, procuring for him the important commission for the '' Burial of Saint Lucy''. In Sicily he established a successful workshop producing religious commissions and eventually became a respected local businessman. Because of the nature of his output, where paintings were produced as a collaborative effort by assistants and pupils, it is frequently difficult to identify exactly which works, or parts of works, are by Minniti's own hand. It is clear that he brought to Sicily the lessons he had learnt from Caravaggio, in particular the use of dramatic

chiaroscuro Chiaroscuro ( , ; ), in art, is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to achi ...

and the depiction of scenes seized at the moment of greatest dramatic intensity, but his work (or rather his workshop's output) has been criticised for "endlessly recycled motifs" and "bland religious canvasses". Nevertheless, he is held in high regard in Sicily, and it is possible to speak of a 'School of Minniti' in the island's artistic history.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Minniti, Mario 1577 births 1640 deaths People from Syracuse, Sicily Italian Baroque painters 16th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 17th-century Italian painters Italian artists' models Painters from Sicily Caravaggisti