GENTILESCHI, ORAZIO

(1563-1639)

Italian painter, born in Pisa to aFlorentinegoldsmith. Orazio's first known work he executed at the age of 30, afrescoin thenaveof Santa Maria Maggiore,Rome, where he moved in c. 1576-1578. He painted in theManneriststyle until c. 1600 when he was exposed to the art ofCaravaggio. HisSt.FrancisSupported by the Angel(c.1605; Madrid, Prado),Crowning of Thorns(c. 1610; Braunschweig, Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum), andSt.Ceciliaand an Angel(c. 1610; Washington, National Gallery) show mundane figures, pushed so close to the foreground that they occupy most of the pictorial space, with dramaticchiaroscuro— all Caravaggist elements. By the 1620s, Caravaggio's popularity in Rome had waned, and theBolognesepainters had taken the forefront. As a result, Orazio changed his style to conform to the taste of his patrons. He relocated to Genoa where he painted his famedAnnunciation(c. 1623; Turin, Galleria Sabauda) that takes place in a fully developed domestic interior and grants greater delicacy and elegance to the figures. In 1624, Orazio worked in the French court ofMarie de' Mediciand, in 1625, he went to England to serve as court painter toCharles I. There he created for Queen Henrietta Maria, Charles' consort, anAllegory of Peaceon the ceiling of the Great Hall in the Queen's House at Greenwich (1638-1639). Gentileschi died in England in 1639.

See alsoGentileschi, Artemisia.