Luigi Garzi
Italian, 1638 - 1721
Italian painter. At the age of 15 he entered the Roman workshop of Andrea Sacchi, from whom he acquired the classical training that served him throughout his career. Among his earliest works is the Triumph of St Catherine and All Saints (Rome, S Caterina a Magnanapoli), which clearly shows the influence of Emilian painting, particularly that of Reni. Another early canvas is St Silvestro Shows Constantine Portraits of SS Peter and Paul (Rome, Santa Croce in Gerusalemme). In 1680 Garzi was appointed Regent of the Congregazione dei Virtuosi al Pantheon, and in 1682 he became Principe of the Accademia di S Luca, of which he had been a member since 1670. In the early 1680s he contributed to the frescoed decoration of the vault of S Carlo al Corso, where his works included an Allegory of Faith. This was influenced by Giovanni Lanfranco’s decoration in S Andrea della Valle, as was his fresco depicting the Glory of the Eternal Father (1686; S Maria del Popolo, Cappella Cybo).
Between 1695 and 1697 Garzi decorated the chapel of S Francesco in S Silvestro in Capite, Rome, with a fresco and paintings showing scenes from the Life of St Francis; a preparatory sketch for the painting of St Francis Preaching has survived (Holkham Hall, Norfolk). In the same period he painted a fresco cycle for S Caterina a Formiello in Naples, responding to the influence of Luca Giordano and Francesco Solimena in an overdoor panel of the Miracle of St Catherine and a vault decoration of the Ecstasy of St Catherine of Siena. Back in Rome, he repeated this theme in the vault of S Caterina a Magnanapoli (before 1713) but in a more classical style, indebted to Maratti. Among his last works were the nave decoration of the Roman churches of S Giovanni in Laterano, the oratory of S Maria Traspontina (c. 1715) and S Paolo alla Regola. A late canvas, Cincinnatus Recalled from the Fields, and a preparatory sketch for it survive in the collection at Holkham Hall. This work, influenced by Poussin, reveals his lasting commitment to Roman classicism.
Mario Alberto Pavone. "Garzi, Luigi." In Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online, http://www.oxfordartonline.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/subscriber/article/grove/art/T030944 (accessed April 10, 2012).
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