Felice Ficherelli (30 August 1605,
San Gimignano
San Gimignano (; named after St. Geminianus) is a small walled medieval hill town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, north-central Italy. Known as the Town of Five Towers, San Gimignano is famous for its medieval architecture, unique in the pr ...
– 5 March 1660,
Florence
Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025.
Florence ...
) was an Italian painter of the
Baroque
The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
period, active mainly in
Tuscany
Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence.
Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...
. He was nicknamed "Felice Riposo" (Happy I Rest) for his calm and quiet demeanour.
Biography
Nothing is known of his parents. He was sent to Florence at a very early age, and placed under the protection of Count
Alberto d'Ottavio Bardi di Vernio, an aide to Cardinal
Carlo de Medici. After displaying some artistic talent, he was made an apprentice in the workshops of
Jacopo da Empoli, where he made copies of works by the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
masters.
[Biography of Ficherelli](_blank)
from the ''Dizionario biografico degli italiani
The ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani'' () is a biographical dictionary published in 100 volumes by the Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, started in 1960 and completed in 2020. It includes about 40,000 biographies of distinguished Italia ...
'' @ Treccani
Institute Giovanni Treccani for the publication of the Italian Encyclopedia (), also known as Treccani Institute or simply Treccani, is a cultural institution of national interest, active in the publishing field, founded by Giovanni Treccani ...
In 1629, he enrolled at the
Accademia dell'Arte del Disegno
Accademia (Italian for "academy") often refers to:
* The Galleria dell'Accademia, an art museum in Florence
* The Gallerie dell'Accademia, an art museum in Venice
Accademia may also refer to:
Academies of art
* The Accademia Carrara di Bel ...
. Count Bardi died in 1632 but, thanks to a provision in Bardi's will, he was able to remain at the Count's home in return for providing one large painting per year.
Many of his works are still in the possession of the Bardi family.
During the 1650s, he created numerous religious works, mostly featuring the
Madonna
Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...
, at the chapel in the
Basilica of Santo Spirito, the , the
Church of San Giovanni Battista, and the
Florence Charterhouse, among others. Most of his other work is decorative in nature.
His most familiar work is ''Saint Praxedis'', which exists in two versions. A
copy of the later version appears to be signed by
Johannes Vermeer
Johannes Vermeer ( , ; see below; also known as Jan Vermeer; October 1632 – 15 December 1675) was a Dutch painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. He is considered one of the greatest painters of the Dutch ...
and dated 1655, which would make it one of his earliest works.
[Liedtke, W. (2001) Vermeer teaching himself. In: The Cambridge Companion to Vermeer. Edited by Wayne E. Franits.] This has been the subject of much disagreement among art scholars.
He was interred at the . It was demolished in 1869 to widen the
Lungarno.
References
Further reading
*
Filippo Baldinucci
Filippo Baldinucci (3 June 1625 – 10 January 1696) was an Italian art historian and biographer.
Life
Baldinucci is considered among the most significant Florentine biographers/historians of the artists and the arts of the Baroque period. ...
, ''Notizie de' Professori del Disegno, Da Cimabue in qua, Secolo V. dal 1610. al 1670'', (Notice of the Professors of Design, from Cimabue to now, from 1610–1670), Vol.3, pg.219
*
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ficherelli, Felice
17th-century Italian painters
1605 births
1660 deaths
Painters from Siena
Italian male painters
Italian Baroque painters