The Painting of Baciccio

Interest in Italian Baroque painting has grown rapidly since the last war, but adequate studies exist for only a few of its important figures. Baciccio, one of the truly great painters of this period, has become well known for his fresco, The Triumph of the Name of Jesus, on the vault of the church of the Gesú, but his other work, which forms perhaps the finest expression of colorism in the period, has not yet received proper critical attention.

This book contains a complete photographic record of all of Baciccio's known paintings, including many never before reproduced, and a catalogue raisonné listing all of his authentic works, works falsely attributed to him, and lost works known only by references to them in early sources. In addition, the author has written a detailed analysis of Baciccio's artistic development, concentrating on his early and late styles and his special relationship to Bernini, and an extensive analysis of The Triumph of the Name of Jesus, relating it to the development of seventeenth-century illusionistic ceiling painting and the spirit of the Counter-Reformation. Many previously unpublished documents dealing with Baciccio are reproduced in the appendix.

Called "a first-rate picture of one of the great artists of the late Roman Baroque" by the eminent art historian Richard Krautheimer, this book will make a fine addition to the library of anyone interested in the history and development of art.

A complete photographic record of all of Baciccio's known paintings, including many never before reproduced, a catalogue raisonné of all works including those known only by early references, and a detailed analysis of Baciccio's artistic development. Many previously unpublished documents are included in an appendix.