Giovanni Lanfranco, Genesis 31, Old Testament Story, Etching, 1600s

Genesis 31 - Old Testament Story is an Etching print realized by the artist Giovanni Lanfranco. About The Old Testament Story, 1607ca. Passpartout included 29 x 39 cm The artwork is in good condition. Together Giovanni Lanfranco with Sisto Badalocchio (q.v.), he was a pupil in Parma of Agostino Carracci (1557-1602). Again with Badalocchio, he traveled to Rome in 1602, following Agostino's death, to work under Annibale Carracci (1560-1609), where the two assisted him with, among other projects, the completion of the decoration of the Galleria Farnese. Lanfranco's return to Rome in 1612, he was for long the close rival of Domenichino (q.v.) for some of the most prestigious commissions of the day. Lanfranco's reputation was secured by his 'proto-Baroque', illusionistic fresco in the style of Correggio in the dome of S.Andrea della Valle, painted in 1625-7. In 1634 Lanfranco transferred to Naples, where he painted fresco decorations in the Gesu Nuovo (1634-5); the Certosa di S. Martino (1637-8/9; see 1967,0211.2); SS Apostles (1638-46; see 1895,0915.728); and the Cappella del Tesoro in the cathedral of S. Gennaro. He returned to Rome in 1646, where his last major commission from him was his fresco decoration of the 'Glory of St Carlo Borromeo' in the apse of S. Carlo ai Catinari, which he left unfinished at his death from him. Bibliography Bartsch XVIII pp.344-51 (31 nos, all from the first period in Rome) Turner 1999 Giovanni Lanfranco (1582 -1647), was an Italian painter, an important follower of the Bolognese school. He was a pupil of Agostino Carracci in Parma and later studied with Annibale Carracci in Rome. A influence on his work, was the Baroque classicism of the Carracci brothers and the vistuosism of Correggio.