Self-portrait by Baldassare Franceschini, called Il Volterrano

Baldassare Franceschini, called Il Volterrano after his birth place Volterra and, to distinguish him from

Ricciarelli Ricciarelli are traditional Italian biscuits – specifically, a type of macaroon – originating in 14th century Siena. It is considered one of the signature sweets of Siena, in addition to panforte, cenci, and cavallucci. Background Legend ...

, Il Volterrano Giuniore (16116 January 1689) was an Italian late

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 ...

painter and draughtsman active principally around Florence and Volterra.Baldassare Franceschini, il Volterrano
at the British Museum He was mainly known for his frescoes, altarpieces and easel paintings for churches and palaces in Florence, Volterra and Rome. His subject matter was diverse and included portraits, biblical and mythological scenes, history paintings and allegorical compositions.Marco Gallo, ''FRANCESCHINI, Baldassarre detto il Volterrano''
in Dizionario biografico degli italiani, vol. 49, Rome, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 1996

Life

He was born in Volterra as the son of the sculptor Gaspare. At an early age, he worked as an assistant to his father and subsequently apprenticed with the Florentine artist

Cosimo Daddi Cosimo Daddi (before 1575–1630), was a late Renaissance painter active mainly around Volterra and Florence. In 1591–94, he participated in the fresco decoration (the deeds of Godefroy de Bouillon) of the Villa Petraia for the Medici The H ...

in Volterra. During the time of his apprenticeship his talents were discovered by the local notable Ludovico Guarnacci and the Marquese Curzio Inghirami, brother of the more powerful Julio, secretary of Christina of Lorraine. The Marquese Inghirami placed him, at the age of sixteen, under the Florentine painter

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 appre ...

. Both Francesco Furini and Lorenzo Lippi also trained with Rosselli. Within a year, he had advanced sufficiently to execute

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 in Volterra with skilled foreshortening, followed by work for the Medici family in the Villa Petraia. Volterrano - Vigilance and Sleep

Franceschini received his first major commission from Don Lorenzo de' Medici, who asked him to decorate the courtyard of Villa La Petraia with scenes illustrating the history of the Medici family. This project took 12 years to complete, but secured his reputation among the most important Florentine families as the city's most important fresco painter.''Baldassare Franceschini (Il Volterrano)''
at the National Gallery In 1652, the Marchese Filippo Niccolini, planning to employ Franceschini on the frescoes for the cupola and back-wall of his chapel in Santa Croce, Florence, dispatched him to various parts of Italy to improve his style. The painter, in a tour that lasted some months, took a serious interest in the schools of Parma and Bologna, and, to some extent, in the Romano-Tuscan style of

Pietro da Cortona Pietro da Cortona (; 1 November 1596 or 159716 May 1669) was an Italian Baroque painter and architect. Along with his contemporaries and rivals Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini, he was one of the key figures in the emergence of Roman ...

, whose acquaintance he made in Rome. He then undertook the paintings commissioned by Niccolini. Among his pupils were Massimiliano Soldani-Benzi, Antonio Franchi, Benedetto Orsi, Michelangelo Palloni, Domenico Tempesta, and Cosimo Ulivelli. Franceschini died of apoplexy at Volterra on 6 January 1689.

Work

Franceschini was a better fresco painter than an artist in oils. His works in the latter medium were frequently left unfinished, although numerous examples remain. The cabinet pictures are marked by much invention. His style was initially influenced by Rosselli and then enriched by the technique of Mannozzi. He acquired Flemish traits from Justus Sustermans and finally adopted the complex chromaticism of Emilian influence, as a result of his journeys to Bologna, Ferrara, Venice and Parma undertaken at the expense of Don Lorenzo between 1640 and 1641. His style is often distinguished by theatrical effects. He painted frescoes celebrating the Medici ancestry for the inner court of the Villa Petraia. The influence of his decorative style on Volterrano's work at the Villa Petraia is clear. They include a painting of the hunchbacked court jester.Full-length Portrait of the Hunchback Trafedi
at the Louvre Among his best oil paintings on a large scale is the ''St. John the Evangelist'' in the church of

Santa Chiara, Volterra Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring children gifts during the late evening and overnigh ...

. One of his latest works is the fresco in the cupola of the

Annunziata Annunziata is the Italian word for (feminine) Annunciation. It is generally understood to refer to the Virgin Mary, receiving the word of the Angel Gabriel that she is to bear the Christ child; that is, the Virgin Mary after the Annunciation. It i ...

, Florence, which occupied him for two years towards 1683.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Franceschini, Baldassare 1611 births 1689 deaths People from the Province of Pisa 17th-century Italian painters Italian male painters Painters from Tuscany Italian Baroque painters Fresco painters