Alessandro Turchi (1578 – 22 January 1649) was an Italian painter of the early Baroque, born and active mainly in

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

, and moving late in life to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. He also went by the name Alessandro Veronese or the nickname ''L'Orbetto''. His style has been described as soft and

Caravaggesque Michelangelo Merisi (Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi) da Caravaggio, known as simply Caravaggio (, , ; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of h ...

at the same time.

Biography

Alessandro Turchi - Diana and Actaeon - Google Art Project

Turchi initially trained with

Felice Riccio Felice Riccio (1542–1605) was an Italian painter of the late-Renaissance period, born and mainly active in Verona. He is also known as ''il Brusasorci'' or ''Brusasorzi'' or ''Felice Brusasorci''. He was the son of the painter Domenico Riccio. H ...

(''il Brusasorci'') in Verona. By 1603, he was working as independent painter, and in 1606–1609, Turchi painted the organ shutters for the Accademia Filarmonica of Verona. When Brusasorci died in 1605, Turchi and his fellow painter Pasquale Ottino completed a series of their deceased master's canvases. In 1610, he completed an ''Assumption'' altarpiece for the church of San Luca of Verona. In 1612, the Veronese Guild of the Goldsmiths commissioned from Turchi an altarpiece, today lost, of the ''Madonna and Saints''. On leaving the school of Riccio, he went to

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

, where he worked for a time under Carlo Cagliari. By 1616, Turchi traveled to Rome and participated in the fresco decoration depicting the ''Gathering of Manna'' for the Sala Reggia of the

Quirinal Palace The Quirinal Palace ( it, Palazzo del Quirinale ) is a historic building in Rome, Italy, one of the three current official residences of the president of the Italian Republic, together with Villa Rosebery in Naples and the Tenuta di Castelporzi ...

, and painting a ''Christ, Magdalen, and Angels'' for cardinal

Scipione Borghese Scipione Borghese (; 1 September 1577 – 2 October 1633) was an Italian Cardinal, art collector and patron of the arts. A member of the Borghese family, he was the patron of the painter Caravaggio and the artist Bernini. His legacy is the establ ...

.now in Galleria Borghese In competition with

Andrea Sacchi Andrea Sacchi (30 November 159921 June 1661) was an Italian painter of High Baroque Classicism, active in Rome. A generation of artists who shared his style of art include the painters Nicolas Poussin and Giovanni Battista Passeri, the sculptors ...

and

Pietro da Cortona Pietro da Cortona (; 1 November 1596 or 159716 May 1669) was an Italian Baroque painter and architect. Along with his contemporaries and rivals Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini, he was one of the key figures in the emergence of Roman ...

, he painted some pictures in the church of

Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini (Our Lady of the Conception of the Capuchins) is a Roman Catholic church located at Via Vittorio Veneto, 27, just north of the Piazza Barberini, in Rome, Italy. It was designed by architect Felice ...

. In 1619, he sent an altarpiece of the ''40 martyrs'' for the Chapel of the Innocents in the church of Santo Stefano, Verona, to hang next to paintings by Pasquale Ottino and Marcantonio Bassetti. He also painted a ''Flight into Egypt'' for the church of San Romualdo, Rome; a ''Holy Family'' for

San Lorenzo in Lucina The Minor Basilica of St. Lawrence in Lucina ( it, Basilica Minore di San Lorenzo in Lucina or simply it, San Lorenzo in Lucina; la, S. Laurentii in Lucina) is a Roman Catholic parish, titular church, and minor basilica in central Rome, Italy. ...

; and a ''San Carlo Borromeo'' in

San Salvatore in Lauro San Salvatore in Lauro is a Catholic church in central Rome, Italy. It is located on a piazza of the same name in the rione Ponte. It stands on Via Vecchiarelli, just south of the Lungotevere Tor di Nona and north of via dei Coronari. Within Ro ...

. He was much employed on cabinet pictures, representing historical subjects, which he frequently painted on black marble. Among his pupils,

Giovanni Ceschini Giovanni Ceschini (active Verona, circa 1590–1640) was an Italian painter Giovanni Battista Rossi Giovanni may refer to: * Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname * Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data * ''Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend of ...

(il Gobbino), practiced in

, the former painting copies of his master's works, which were often taken for originals. Orbetto - David with the Head of Goliath

For the Count Giangiacomo Giusti, in 1620 he painted an ''Allegory of Fame between Mercury and Pallas Athena'' and three canvases of ''Faith'', ''Hope'', and ''Charity''. In 1621 he executed for French cardinal François de Sourdis the ''Resurrection of Christ'', now in the cathedral of Sant'Andrea of Bordeaux, and the ''Adoration of the Magi'' for the

Gherardini family The Gherardinis of Montagliari (or Florence) are one of the most prominent historical Noble family from Tuscany, Italy. Through the Amidei, the family was of Roman descent. Between the 9th and 14th centuries, they played an important role in T ...

in Verona. By 1621, he had completed a painting of ''San Carlo Borromeo and the Madonna in Glory'' for

in Rome. Documents from 1629 indicate that Turchi was paid 110 scudi for painting ''St. Anthony of Padua'' for the Farnese Palace at

Caprarola Caprarola is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Viterbo, in the Lazio region of central Italy. The village is situated in a range of volcanic hills known as the Cimini Mounts. The town is home to the large Renaissance mansion or villa which ...

. In 1632, an inventory of the Palazzo Mattei di Giove, records a ''Saint Marta and Maria Madalena'' and a ''Samaritan Women'' by Turchi. His sister married Giacinto Gimignani. In 1623, Turchi married Lucia San Giuliano. In 1637, with the sponsorship of the cardinal Francesco Barberini, he became Principe or director of the

Accademia di San Luca The Accademia di San Luca (the "Academy of Saint Luke") is an Italian academy of artists in Rome. The establishment of the Accademia de i Pittori e Scultori di Roma was approved by papal brief in 1577, and in 1593 Federico Zuccari became its f ...

. In 1638, he joined the papal guild of artists, called the

Pontifical Academy of Fine Arts and Letters of the Virtuosi al Pantheon The Pontifical Academy of Fine Arts and Letters of the Virtuosi al Pantheon is one of the Pontifical Academies under the direction of the Holy See. The complete Italian name of the academy, Pontificia Insigne Accademia di Belle Arti e Letteratura d ...

. He died in Rome in 1649.

Paintings

(selection) File:Alessandro Turchi 003.jpg, Christ and Adulterous Woman File:A Turchi Matrimonio místico de santa Catalina Louvre.jpg, Mystical Marriage of St Catherine (Louvre) File:Alessandro Turchi 004.jpg, Erminia Finds the Wounded Tancred (Kunsthistorisches Museum) File:Alessandro Turchi - Saint Agatha Attended by Saint Peter and an Angel in Prison - Walters 37552.jpg, ''Saint Agatha Attended by Saint Peter and an Angel in Prison''.

The Walters Art Museum The Walters Art Museum, located in Mount Vernon-Belvedere, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, is a public art museum founded and opened in 1934. It holds collections established during the mid-19th century. The museum's collection was amassed ...

. File:Alessandro Turchi 002.jpg, Vision of Christ of the Passion File:Alessandro Turchi - Death of Cleopatra.jpg, Death of Cleopatra File:MMoCA.42MA Alesandro Turchi, Diana and Acteon.jpg, ''Diana and Acteon'',

Mougins Museum of Classical Art The MACM, the Mougins Museum of Classical Art (Musée d’Art Classique de Mougins) is an art museum located in the village of Mougins, in the Alpes-Maritimes department, France. It is 30 minutes from Nice airport and 15 minutes from the centre ...

File:MMoCA128MA-without frame.jpg, ''Abduction of Helen'', Mougins Museum of Classical Art File:MMoCA135MA Amessandro Turchi - The abduction of Helen (drawing).png, ''Abduction of Helen'', Mougins Museum of Classical Art File:MMoCA. 176MA Alessandro Turchi, L'Orbetto.jpg, ''A young general (Alexander ?) showing clemency to two prisoners'', Mougins Museum of Classical Art

References

Biography
see ''Alessandro Turchi 1578-1649 detto l'Orbetto''. *

External links

Alessandro Turchi en la Enciclopedia online del Museo del Prado
{{DEFAULTSORT:Turchi, Alessandro 1578 births 1649 deaths 16th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 17th-century Italian painters Painters from Verona Italian Baroque painters