Baciccio

Baciccio, byname of Giovanni Battista Gaulli, (born May 8, 1639, Genoa [Italy]—died April 2, 1709, Rome), leading Roman Baroque painter of the second half of the 17th century.

At Genoa, Baciccio was a student of Luciano Borzone, but he was also influenced by the works of Sir Anthony Van Dyck and Bernardo Strozzi. He moved to Rome about 1660, visiting Parma (1669) to study the frescoes of Correggio. His chief influence was Gian Lorenzo Bernini, who befriended him and introduced him to his circle of Roman patrons.

Baciccio’s principal works are his fresco decorations in the Roman churches Santa Agnese (1668–71), the Gesù (finished 1684), and Santi Apostoli (1707). In these, and particularly in the Gesù, he combined an ecstatic religious figure-style, derived from Bernini, and a melting, sensual treatment of the heads, derived from Correggio, with his own masterly organization of masses of light and shade and an attractive bravura of execution. He also painted altarpieces and was well known as a portraitist of the papal circle.