Ciro Ferri

Italian, 1634–1689

BiographyCiro Ferri was probably born in Rome in 1634. According to Baldinucci, 13 having shown some talent, he was sent to study with Pietro da Cortona (1596-1669) around 1650; he became a member of the Accademia di San Luca on 3 June 1657. After mastering his teacher's style, Ferri set to work on Cortona's unfinished campaign in the planetary rooms of the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, a project that would occupy him throughout the 1650s and '60s. Thereafter he completed a number of other projects begun by his teacher, including the decoration of the right aisle of Saint Peter's, and began to receive commissions from the leading families of Rome, as well as from patrons in Florence and Bergamo.

Although known primarily as a painter and draftsman, Ferri also designed engravings, architecture, and sculpture. His ciborium for the high altar of the Chiesa Nuova is recognized as one of the masterpieces of seventeenth-century bronze decorative sculpture. Along with the sculptor Ercole Ferrata (1610-1686), Ferri led the Medici Academy in Rome, which was established in 1673 by Grand Duke Cosimo III. Ferri died in Rome in 1689. His self-portrait is preserved in the Palazzo Pitti, Florence.