Camillo Procaccini
(1555 - 1629) |
|
Secular Narratives, Historic Narratives, Mythological Narratives Art Work
| Name: |
Camillo Procaccini |
| Gender: |
Male |
| Place of Birth: |
Bologna, Italy |
| Nationality: |
Italian |
| Birth: |
1555 |
| Death: |
1629 |
| Website: |
|
| Past Auctions: |
Click Here |
|
|
Quick Facts
| Known For: |
Secular Narratives, Historic Narratives, Mythological Narratives |
| Medium: |
Oil |
| Method: |
|
| Style: |
Mannerist |
| Fine Art Profession(s): |
Painting
|
|
|
Biography
| An especially prolific member of an artists' family that included his father Ercole Procaccini il Vecchio (Bologna 1520-MiIan 1595), his younger brother Carlo Antonio (Bologna 1571-Milan 1630), and Giulio Cesare (Bologna 1574-Milan 1625), Camillo was a pupil of his father, Ercole. Camillo was independent in the late 1570s; his sources included Correggio, Parmigianino, the Bolognese mannerism of Fontana, and Passarotti, among others. In 1571 Camillo registered in the Bolognese Guild of St. Luke and in 1580 he most likely traveled to Rome, where the work of Cavaliere d'Arpino (Giuseppe Cesari) and Taddo Zuccaro undoubtedly inspired him. Camillo's activities in Bologna and Reggio Emilia are fairly well documented but much has been lost. Between ca. 1581 and 1583 he painted frescoes for the Collegio di Spagna in San Clemente (now destroyed), and in 1582 we have a document recording a commission for an Assumption (now lost) for S. Gregorio, Bologna. In 1583 we have the record of his son's birth in Bologna on the tenth of April, and two years later we know he traveled to Parma. The years 1585 to 1587 are the dates of his last known commission in his native district, the frescoes he did for the apse of S. Prospero, Reggio Emilia, which still survive. Portraying a Last Judgement a Pietd, and Two Prophets, the frescoes reveal Procaccini expertly describing nude figures in various poses and from diverse vantage points, using the exaggerated gestures and attenuated forms of the mannerists. One suspects he may have cast more than a casual glance at Domenico Beccafumi. Some of Camillo's figures stand apart from others, because they are clearly derived from model studies. For example, the central figure with outstretched hands in his portrayal of the elect in the Last Judgement is obviously more carefully observed than the others in that group. In the year his S. Prospero project was completed, 1587, Camillo requested leave to go to Milan; the 1590 census shows him living there in the parish of S. Eusebio, Milan. From then on we have records for nearly every year until his death on 21 August 1629. He was active, producing fresco decorations and altarpieces for numerous Milanese churches including the Duomo, S. Angelo, S. Antonio Abate, and S. Vittore al Corpo, Throughout his life, Camillo maintained his mannerist approach to picture making but executed his pictures with such grace and beauty that they have earned him a well-deserved reputation as one of the finest painters of his generation. His organ shutters, commissioned in 1592 by the Duomo, Milan, are among Camillo's outstanding accomplishments. Including a Resurrection and a Transfiguration paired with two scenes portraying the Triumph of David, these admirably demonstrate Camillo's command of the human form. Large, simple figures make strong, bold gestures and retell the religious dramas with equal measures of grace and simplicity. Marvelous as designs, these shutters reflect the best of Camillo's mannerism, providing for the viewer both an aesthetic and a spiritual experience. Credited to that period in Camillo's career is a beautiful signed painting on copper, Sacrifice of Isaac (Salzburg, GemSldegalerie). One of Camillo's major efforts in Milan involved his decorations for the church of S. Angelo. The choir ceiling was embellished with a portrayal of The Assumption of the Virgin Surrounded by Music-Making Angels, at an unknown date, though scholars tend to date these wonderful pictures to 1600. By 1619 Camilto had also decorated a cloister with frescoes of angels within various biblical episodes. Many of these frescoes are now detached and/or destroyed. If Camillo had completed his cloister frescoes in 1619, he had been involved with S. Angelo for nearly twenty years, a time span that also included his decoration of the Chapel of St. Diego d'Acala with episodes from the saint's life. Of the entire effort, Camillo's music-making angels are surely the loveliest; their grace and delicacy are rarely matched in the seventeenth century. Among his last works were the Crucifixion (doc. 1623-26) done for S. Alessandro Milan, and the work done between 1624 and 1625 on the frescoes for the choir ceiling of SS. Paolo e Barnaba, Milan. Here Camillo seems to have toned down his style, emphasizing symmetry and stability over the graceful yet dynamic figures that so enlivened his earlier pictures. Perhaps daily contact with Ludovico Carracci, with whom he worked on the apse and choir of the Duomo, Piacenza, between 1606 and 1609, strongly affected him and remained a lasting influence on his work. |
Samples of Work
|
|
