Domenichino (Domenico Zampieri)
Italian, 1581–1641
BiographyDomenico Zampieri was born in Bologna in 1581. He initially studied the humanities, briefly training as a painter with the Flemish artist Denis Calvaert (ca. 1540-1619). He then entered the Carraccis' Accademia degli Incamminati around 1595, where he gained a foundation in life drawing and humanistic studies. In 1602 Domenichino followed Annibale Carracchi to Rome, where he contributed to the production of Annibale's frescoes in the Galleria Farnese (ca. 1604-5) and Aldobrandini Palace. In 1606 he was working in the Palazzo Mattei with Francesco Albani (1578-1660), Giovanni Lanfranco (1582-1647), and others from the Carracci circle. Between 1612 and 1615 he completed the fresco cycle in the Polet Chapel in San Luigi dei Francesi, his first independent commission; and in 1614 he completed the Last Communion of St. Jerome, his first altarpiece, for San Girolanodella Carità, Rome (now in the Pinacoteca Vaticana). From 1617 to 1621 he worked in Bologna and Fano. He returned to Rome in 1621, and during the following decade he finished a series of major works for churches in Rome, including frescoes in San Andrea della Valle, an altarpiece for St. Peter's, and frescoes in San Silvestro al Quirinale, San Carlo ai Catinari, Santa Maria in Trastevere and Santa Maria della Vittoria. In 1631 he moved to Naples to decorate the most important chapel in the city, the Treasury Chapel of San Gennaro, a project entailing six altarpieces and a large fresco cycle. He died in Naples in 1641, possibly the victim of poisoning.