Stefano Pieri (December 26, 1544 – January 13, 1629) was an early 17th-century Florentine painter. Baptismal documents discovered in 2017 revealed that Pieri was born to Piero Pieri-Rossi, a descendent of Parma's nobility working as a guard of the Florence Customs House, and living in the neighborhood of

San Jacopo sopr'Arno San Jacopo sopr'Arno is a church in Florence, Italy. The church was built in the 10th–11th centuries in Romanesque style. It subsequently experienced heavy modifications including the addition of a triple-arched portico. According to the Rena ...

. He trained under

Agnolo Bronzino Agnolo di Cosimo (; 17 November 150323 November 1572), usually known as Bronzino ( it, Il Bronzino ) or Agnolo Bronzino, was an Italian Mannerist painter from Florence. His sobriquet, ''Bronzino'', may refer to his relatively dark skin or reddis ...

before approaching Giorgio Vasari and enrolling at the Accademia del Diseno on 16 July 1564. In that year, he participated with many other young artists in the funeral of

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...

; works of art from that event remain in many Florentine galleries today. His painting of Michelangelo beside

Duke Cosimo de' Medici Cosimo I de' Medici (12 June 1519 – 21 April 1574) was the second Duke of Florence from 1537 until 1569, when he became the first Grand Duke of Tuscany, a title he held until his death. Life Rise to power Cosimo was born in Florence on 12 ...

gained special praise from Vasari. He assisted Vasari in painting the monumental Last Judgement on the cupola of the

Florence Cathedral Florence Cathedral, formally the (; in English Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower), is the cathedral of Florence, Italy ( it, Duomo di Firenze). It was begun in 1296 in the Gothic style to a design of Arnolfo di Cambio and was structurally c ...

in the late 1570s. He later followed Federico Zuccari to Rome to aid in the interior decoration of the

Villa d'Este The Villa d'Este is a 16th-century villa in Tivoli, near Rome, famous for its terraced hillside Italian Renaissance garden and especially for its profusion of fountains. It is now an Italian state museum, and is listed as a UNESCO World Herita ...

. According to Giovanni Baglione, he participated in numerous other projects in small churches that are now mostly lost or in disrepair, including damaged frescoes in Santa Prassede and

San Giovanni dei Fiorentini The Basilica of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini ("Saint John of the Florentines") is a minor basilica and a titular church in the Ponte ''rione'' of Rome, Italy. Dedicated to St. John the Baptist, the protector of Florence, the new church for the ...

(overshadowed by those of

Cortona Cortona (, ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Arezzo, in Tuscany, Italy. It is the main cultural and artistic centre of the Val di Chiana after Arezzo. Toponymy Cortona is derived from Latin Cortōna, and from Etruscan 𐌂𐌖𐌓� ...

). Attribution of many of his works is uncertain, but his catalog is anchored by two works in Florence's Galleria dell'Accademia: the ''Sacrifice of Isaac'' (1585) and ''Pietà'' (1587, second copy in the Fine Arts Museum of Chambery). These allowed his identification as the artist of the ''Flagellation'' in the baptistry of Saint John's Co-Cathedral, Valletta; ''Holy Family with St. John'' sold at

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...

in 1996 and a similar work in the Civic Museum of Prato; the altarpiece of Santa Maria della Neve in the

Monastero delle Murate Monastero delle Murate (Monastery of Murate) is a former Benedictine convent on Via Ghibellina in Florence, Italy. For about a hundred years, from 1883 to 1985, it was the men's prison in Florence, after which the detainees were transferred to Soll ...

(faded following the

1966 flood of the Arno The 1966 flood of the Arno ( it, Alluvione di Firenze del 4 novembre 1966) in Florence killed 101 people and damaged or destroyed millions of masterpieces of art and rare books. It is considered the worst flood in the city's history since 1557. Wi ...

); and the ''Madonna in Glory'' on the main altar of Badia a Pacciana in

Pistoia Pistoia (, is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of a province of the same name, located about west and north of Florence and is crossed by the Ombrone Pistoiese, a tributary of the River Arno. It is a typi ...

. These add to recognized works like the ''Allegory of Prudence'' in the Uffizi, ''Annunciation'' in Santa Prassede of Rome, and the ''Baptism of Constantine'' in the church of Santa Croce in Bosco Marengo. He died in 1629, and was buried in Ognissanti, Florence.

Selected Works

References

Italian Renaissance painters {{DEFAULTSORT:Pieri, Stefano 16th-century people from the Republic of Florence 1544 births 1629 deaths