Domenico Passignano

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Galileo Galilei portrait by Passignano.
Galileo Galilei portrait by Passignano.

Domenico Passignano (born Cresti or Crespi) (1559 - 1636) was an Italian painter of a late-Renaissance or Contra-Maniera style that emerged in Florence towards the end of the 16th century.

He was born in Florence, and started his works in the stylized Tuscan manner, working with Giovanni Battista Naldini and Girolamo Macchietti. After travelling from Rome to Venice (1581-1589) where he was influenced by Tintoretto's style. He had traveled to Venice as an assistant to Federico Zuccari, who had employed him previously in the completion of Vasari's unmemorable frescoes for the Florentine Duomo.

He was known to paint with great speed; unfortunately, to be quick he used less paint and so most of his works have been severely damaged by time.

In Florence, he painted frescoes of the Translation and Funeral of Saint Antoninus (1589) for the Cappella Salviati in San Marco and Preaching of John the Baptist (1590) for San Michele Visdomini. He painted a Nativity (1594) for Lucca's Duomo di San Martino. Other works can be found in church of San Frediano in Pisa as fresco and in Uffizi Gallery. He painted famous portraits of Galileo and Michelangelo.

[edit] Selcted works

  • Ganymede and Jupiter, University Oklahoma Museum of Art [1]
  • The Allegory of Chastity, [2]
  • Wedding Banquet of Grand Duke Ferdinand I de Medici, [3]

[edit] References

  • Freedberg, Sydney J. (1993). in Pelican History of Art: Painting in Italy, 1500-1600. Penguin Books Ltd, 625-626. 
  •   "Domenico Passignano". Catholic Encyclopedia. (1913). New York: Robert Appleton Company.