Giovanni Lanfranco

Giovanni Lanfranco was born in Terenza (Parma) in 1582. He was a pupil of Agostino Carracci and helped him with the decoration of Palazzo del Giardino in Parma.After Agostino’s death he was sent to Rome by duke Ranuccio Farnese to study and train in the workshop of Annibale Carracci. He worked with his new teacher on the decoration of the Galleria Farnese. He also helped Guido Reni with the decoration of St Gregorio al Celio.
Directly inspired by the great domes painted by Correggio, Lanfranco created pictures withparticular spatial layouts, with landscapes and dynamic masses. One of his masterpieces, the dome of S. Andrea della Valle, made him famous and he received important commissions (such as the decoration of the church Gesù Nuovo, in Naples). He lived in Naples from 1634 to 1647 and painted cycles of frescos in the Carthusian monastery of St Martin. He painted the dome of St Gennaro (the Duomo).
Giovanni Lanfranco died in Rome in 1647.