Mario Minniti (8 December 1577 – 22 November 1640) was an

Italian Baroque painter Italian Baroque art was a very prominent part of the Baroque art in painting, sculpture and other media, made in a period extending from the end of the sixteenth to the mid eighteenth centuries. The movement began in Italy, and despite later curr ...

active in

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

after 1606. Born in

Syracuse Syracuse most commonly refers to: * Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse * Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area Syracuse may also refer to: Places * Syracuse railway station (disambiguation) Italy * Provi ...

, Sicily, he arrived in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

in 1593, where he became the friend, collaborator, and model of the key

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 ...

painter

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

(1571–1610). His main fame today is his identification, or proposed identification, as a model in many of Caravaggio's early works, including ''

Boy with a Basket of Fruit ''Boy with a Basket of Fruit'' is an oil on canvas painting generally ascribed to Italy, Italian Baroque master Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, created ''c.'' 1593. It is held in the Galleria Borghese, in Rome. Background The painting dates fr ...

'', '' The Fortune Teller'', '' The Musicians'', '' Boy Bitten by a Lizard'' (probable), ''

Bacchus In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ) by the Gre ...

'', ''

The Lute Player The Lute Player, The Tsaritsa Harpist or The Tsaritsa who Played the Gusli (), is a Russian fairy tale. It was published by Alexander Afanasyev in his collection ''Russian Fairy Tales'', as number 338. Andrew Lang included it in ''The Violet Fai ...

'', ''

The Calling of Saint Matthew ''The Calling of Saint Matthew'' is an oil painting by the Italian Baroque master Caravaggio that depicts the Calling of Matthew, moment Jesus Christ calls on the tax collector Matthew to follow him. It was completed in 1599–1600 for the Conta ...

'', and '' The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew''. He ceases to appear as a model after about 1600, when he is believed to have married, but he may have been involved with Caravaggio and others in the 1606 street brawl which resulted in the death of Ranuccio Tomassoni at Caravaggio's hands – his biographer records that he fled to Sicily following a homicide, from where he petitioned for a pardon (it was eventually granted), and it is known that he sheltered Caravaggio during the latter's stay in Sicily in 1608–1609, procuring for him the important commission for the '' Burial of Saint Lucy''. In Sicily he established a successful workshop producing religious commissions and eventually became a respected local businessman. Because of the nature of his output, where paintings were produced as a collaborative effort by assistants and pupils, it is frequently difficult to identify exactly which works, or parts of works, are by Minniti's own hand. It is clear that he brought to Sicily the lessons he had learnt from Caravaggio, in particular the use of dramatic

chiaroscuro In art, chiaroscuro ( , ; ) is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to ach ...

and the depiction of scenes seized at the moment of greatest dramatic intensity, but his work (or rather his workshop's output) has been criticised for "endlessly recycled motifs" and "bland religious canvasses". Nevertheless, he is held in high regard in Sicily, and it is possible to speak of a 'School of Minniti' in the island's artistic history.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Minniti, Mario 1577 births 1640 deaths People from Syracuse, Sicily Italian Baroque painters 16th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 17th-century Italian painters Italian artists' models Painters from Sicily Caravaggisti