Luigi Pellegrini Scaramuccia (16213 August 1680) was an Italian painter and artist biographer 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. A pupil, along with

Giovanni Domenico Cerrini Giovanni Domenico Cerrini (1609–1681), also called ''Gian Domenico Cerrini'' or ''il Cavalier Perugino'', was a painter of the Baroque period, born in Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by t ...

of the painter

Guido Reni Guido Reni (; 4 November 1575 – 18 August 1642) was an Italian Baroque painter, although his works showed a classical manner, similar to Simon Vouet, Nicolas Poussin, and Philippe de Champaigne. He painted primarily religious works, but al ...

, he is best known for his book ''Le finezze de' pennelli italiani'', one of the earliest compilations of biographies that included baroque artists from Bologna and Milan.

Biography

Born in

Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

to the painter Giovanni Antonio Scaramuccia, he studied first with his father, and then in Rome with

. He was a widely travelled and cultivated artist, who from 1654 worked primarily in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, where he played an important role in the refounding of the

Accademia Ambrosiana The Biblioteca Ambrosiana is a historic library in Milan, Italy, also housing the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, the Ambrosian art gallery. Named after Ambrose, the patron saint of Milan, it was founded in 1609 by Cardinal Federico Borromeo, whose agen ...

. His painted works include the ''Crucifixion of St. Peter'' ( San Vittore al Corpo, Milan) and ''Federico Borromeo Visiting the Plague-stricken'' (Milan, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana). The latter work was part of a large project promoted by Antonio Busca to decorate the Accademia Ambrosiana with works honoring the founder,

Federico Borromeo Federico Borromeo (; 18 August 1564 – 21 September 1631) was an Italian cardinal (Catholicism), cardinal, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milan, Archbishop of Milan, and prominent figure of the Counter-Reformation in Italy. His acts of charity, ...

. The works recall the large Quadroni of St. Charles painted about the life of Carlo Borromeo for the

Duomo of Milan Milan Cathedral ( ; ), or Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica of the Nativity of Saint Mary (), is the cathedral church of Milan, Lombardy, Italy. Dedicated to the Nativity of St. Mary (), it is the seat of the Archbishop of Milan, currently Archbis ...

. Other painters in this project were

Ambrogio Besozzi Ambrogio Besozzi or ''Giovanni Ambrogio Besozzi'' (1648–1706) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. Life He was born in Milan in 1648 where his first training was with Gioseffo Danedi, ''il Montalto''. He assisted Ciro Ferri in Rome wit ...

, Cesare Fiore,

Andrea Lanzani Andrea Lanzani (c.1645 – 30 May 1712) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. Biography Born in Milan in 1641, Lanzani initially apprenticed in the workshop of Luigi Scaramuccia, where he met Andrea Pozzo, a marked influence on his e ...

, and Antonio Busca himself. The

Brera Gallery The Pinacoteca di Brera ("Brera Art Gallery") is the main public gallery for paintings in Milan, Italy. It contains one of the foremost collections of Italian paintings from the 13th to the 20th century, an outgrowth of the cultural program of ...

has a portrait of Scaramucci painted by his friend,

Francesco Cairo Francesco Cairo (26 September 1607 – 27 July 1665), also known as Francesco del Cairo, was an Italian Baroque painter active in Lombardy and Piedmont. Biography He was born in Milan, which was also his deathplace. It is not known where he o ...

. One of his pupils was

Andrea Lanzano Andrea Lanzano (1651 in Milan – 1709) was an Italian painter of the late Baroque period. He was initially trained in Milan under Luigi Scaramuccia, then traveled to Rome to work under Carlo Maratta. He became a follower of Giovanni Lanfranco. H ...

of San Colombano. Scaramuccia worked also under

Carlo Cignani Carlo Cignani (; 15 May 1628 – 8 September 1719) was an Italian painter. His innovative style referred to as his 'new manner' introduced a reflective, intimate mood of painting and presaged the later pictures of Guido Reni and Guercino, as well ...

and alongside

Lorenzo Pasinelli Lorenzo Pasinelli (September 4, 1629 – March 4, 1700) was an Italian painter active mainly in Bologna during the late Baroque period. He was born in Bologna, and initially trained in the studio of Simone Cantarini. He then pursued studies in R ...

, Girolamo Bonini, and Giovanni Maria Galli-Bibiena, in the fresco decoration of the ‘’Sala Farnese’’ in the

Palazzo d'Accursio 260px, Palazzo d'Accursio. Palazzo d'Accursio (or Palazzo Comunale) is a palace once formulated to house major administrative offices of the city of Bologna, region of Emilia-Romagna, Italy. It is located on the Piazza Maggiore, and is the city's ...

(now City Hall) in

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

.Sala Farnese
in Palazzo d’Accursio. His fame rests on his book ''Le finezze dei pennelli italiani ammirate e studiate da Girupeno sotto la scorta e la disciplina del genio di Raffaello d’Urbino'', published in Padua in 1674, but essentially completed by 1666, in which year it was submitted to the

Accademia di San Luca The Accademia di San Luca () 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 first ''principe'' or director; ...

in Rome. It takes the form of an artistic journey undertaken by a young man called Girupeno (an

anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into the phrase "nag a ram"; which ...

of Perugino) under the guidance of

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...

. The journey starts and ends in Rome, after taking in

, Naples,

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

, Milan,

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

and

Modena Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025. A town, and seat of an archbis ...

. This structure differs from that of previous treatises on art, which had taken a biographical rather than a topographical approach to their subject, and allows the author to describe the works of art found in the various cities, to discuss the major artists and to state his own theories. The work’s last section, containing principles or reminders for young people starting out on a career as artists, reveals a decidedly classicist attitude. This is followed by an extract from the ''

Trattato della pittura ''A Treatise on Painting'' (''Trattato della pittura'') is a collection of Leonardo da Vinci's writings entered in his notebooks under the general heading "On Painting". The manuscripts were begun in Milan while Leonardo was under the service of ...

'' by Leonardo, which had been published in Paris by Raphaël Trichet du Fresne in 1651. Scaramuccia made only a few additions to the bibliography of books on art that du Fresne had compiled as an introduction to Leonardo’s treatise. Scaramuccia died in Milan in 1680. The

has a portrait of Scaramucci painted by his friend,

. One of his pupils was

of San Colombano.

Writings

* ''Le finezze dei pennelli italiani ammirate e studiate dal Girupeno sotto la scorta e la disciplina del genio di Raffaello d’Urbino'' (Padua, 1674).

Gallery

Scaramuccia-federico borromeo y los apestados.jpg, ''Federico Borromeo visits the leper house during the Plague of 1630'', Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana Scaramuccia, Luigi (Llegada de Herminia a la cabaña de los pastores).jpg, ''Erminia arrives into the shepherds hut'',

Museo del Prado The Museo del Prado ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It houses collections of Art of Europe, European art, dating from the 12th century to the early 20th ce ...

, Madrid Scaramuccia Satyr whipping a nymph.jpg, ''Satyr whipping a nymph'',

National Museum in Warsaw The National Museum in Warsaw (, MNW) is a national museum in Warsaw, one of the largest museums in Poland and the largest in the capital. It comprises a rich collection of ancient art ( Egyptian, Greek, Roman), counting about 11,000 pieces, an ...

Incoronazione di Carlo V in San Petronio a Bologna.jpg, ''Coronation of

Charles V Charles V may refer to: Kings and Emperors * Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) * Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain * Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise Others * Charles V, Duke ...

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...

'', 1661. Sketch for the frescoes in the Sala Farnese of the

References

* * Geddo, Cristina, ''Luigi Scaramuccia: Biografia''; ''Luigi Scaramuccia: Cristo flagellato, Cannobio, Santuario della Pietà'', in ''Pittura tra il Verbano e il Lago d'Orta dal Medioevo al Settecento'', ed. M. Gregori, Milano, Cariplo, 1996, pp. 295–297, plate 91 (https://unige.academia.edu/CristinaGeddo, ''ad vocem'', with updated abstract).

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Scaramuccia, Luigi 1616 births 1680 deaths Painters from Perugia Italian art historians 17th-century Italian painters Italian male painters Italian Baroque painters Artists from the Papal States