Giuseppe Cesari (14 February 1568 – 3 July 1640) was an Italian

Mannerist Mannerism is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, when the Baroque style largely replaced it ...

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

, also named Il Giuseppino and called ''Cavaliere d'Arpino'', because he was created ''Cavaliere di Cristo'' by his patron

Pope Clement VIII Pope Clement VIII (; ; 24 February 1536 – 3 March 1605), born Ippolito Aldobrandini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 30 January 1592 to his death in March 1605. Born in Fano, Papal States to a prominen ...

. He was much patronized in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

by both Clement and

Sixtus V Pope Sixtus V (; 13 December 1521 – 27 August 1590), born Felice Piergentile, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 April 1585 to his death, in August 1590. As a youth, he joined the Franciscan order, where h ...

. He was the chief of the studio in which

Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (also Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi da Caravaggio; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), known mononymously as Caravaggio, was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the fina ...

trained upon the younger painter's arrival in Rome.

Biography

Cesari's father, Muzio Cesari, had been a native of Arpino, but Giuseppe himself was born in Rome. Here, he was apprenticed to Niccolò Pomarancio. Cesari is stigmatized by Luigi Lanzi, as not less the corrupter of taste in painting than Marino was in poetry (Lanzi disdained the style of post-Michelangelo

Mannerism Mannerism is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, when the Baroque style largely replaced it ...

as a time of decline.). Cesari's first major work, done in his twenties, was the painting of the right counterfacade of

San Lorenzo in Damaso The Minor Basilica of St. Lawrence in Damaso (Basilica Minore di San Lorenzo in Damaso) or simply San Lorenzo in Damaso is a parish and titular church in central Rome, Italy that is dedicated to St. Lawrence, deacon and martyr. It is incorporate ...

, completed from 1588 to 1589. On 28 June 1589, he received the commission for the murals of the choir vault in the

Certosa di San Martino The ("List of Carthusian monasteries, Charterhouse of St. Martin") is a former monastery complex, now a National Museum of San Martino, museum, in Naples, southern Italy. Along with Castel Sant'Elmo that stands beside it, this is the most visible ...

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

. From 1591 he was again in Rome, where he painted the vault in the Contarelli Chapel within the church of

San Luigi dei Francesi The Church of St. Louis of the French (, , ) is a Catholic Church, Catholic church near Piazza Navona in Rome. The church is dedicated to the patron saints of France: Virgin Mary, Dionysius the Areopagite and King Louis IX of France. The churc ...

. He also completed murals in the Cappella Olgiati in Santa Prassede, and the vault of the Sacristy in the Certosa di San Martino. He was a man of touchy and irascible character, and rose from penury to the height of opulence. His brother Bernardino Cesari assisted in many of his works. Cesari became a member of the

Accademia di San Luca The Accademia di San Luca () is an Italian academy of artists in Rome. The establishment of the Accademia de i Pittori e Scultori di Roma was approved by papal brief in 1577, and in 1593 Federico Zuccari became its first ''principe'' or director; ...

in 1585. In 1607, he was briefly jailed by the new papal administration. He died in 1640, at the age of seventy-two, or perhaps of eighty, at Rome. His only direct followers were his sons Muzio (1619–1676) and Bernardino (d. 1703). Pier Francesco Mola (1612–1666) apprenticed in his studio. Other pupils include Francesco Allegrini da Gubbio, Guido Ubaldo Abatini, Vincenzo Manenti, and Bernardino Parasole. His most notable and perhaps surprising pupil was

. In c. 1593–94, Caravaggio held a job at Cesari's studio as a painter of flowers and fruit.

Selected works

*Cappella Olgiati in

Santa Prassede The Basilica of Saint Praxedes (, ), commonly known in Italian as Santa Prassede, is an early medieval titulus (Roman Catholic), titular church and minor basilica located near the papal basilica of Saint Mary Major, on Via di Santa Prassede, Mont ...

(1592) *Frescoes in Salon of the

Palazzo dei Conservatori The Capitolium or Capitoline Hill ( ; ; ), between the Roman Forum, Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the Seven Hills of Rome. The hill was earlier known as ''Mons Saturnius'', dedicated to the god Saturn (mythology), Saturn. The wo ...

(now Capitoline Museum, 1595-96) **''Battle between Horatii and Curiatii

**''Finding of the She-wolf

**''Rape of the Sabine Women

**''Numa Pompilius Instituting the Cult of the Vestals

*Cappella Paolina in the church of

Santa Maria Maggiore Santa Maria Maggiore (), also known as the Basilica of Saint Mary Major or the Basilica of Saint Mary the Great, is one of the four Basilicas in the Catholic Church#Major and papal basilicas, major papal basilicas and one of the Seven Pilgrim C ...

(1609) *''Immaculate Conception'',

Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando The Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (RABASF; ), located on the Calle de Alcalá in the centre of Madrid, currently functions as a museum and gallery. A public law corporation, it is integrated together with other Spanish royal aca ...

, Madrid. * Prado Museum, Madrid **''The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John'' **''The Mystical Betrothal of Saint Catherine'' *'' Perseus Rescuing Andromeda'',

Saint Louis Art Museum The Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM) is an art museum located in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. With paintings, sculptures, cultural objects, and ancient masterpieces from around the world, its three-story building stands in Forest Park in ...

, St. Louis.Judith Mann, Paintings on Stone: Science and the Sacred, 1530-1800, ed. Judith Mann (St. Louis: Himer, 2021).

References

Bibliography

*Gash, J. (1996). ''Caravaggio'', in Turner, J. (ed). ''The Dictionary of Art''. London: Macmillan * * *Mann, Judith (2021). ''Paintings on Stone: Science and the Sacred, 1530-1800'', Judith Mann (ed). St. Louis: Himer.

External links

Biography
at arte-argomenti.org *
''Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi''
a fully digitized exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries, which contains material on Giuseppe Cesari (see index) {{DEFAULTSORT:Cesari, Giuseppe 1560s births 1640 deaths Painters from Rome Italian Roman Catholics 16th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 17th-century Italian painters Italian Mannerist painters Catholic painters