BRANDI, Giacinto. — Painter, born in Poli in 1623, died in Rome in 1691. He was a pupil of Lanfranco, in whose workshop he remained until around 1650, inheriting from him a broad compositional style, rapid light effects, and a vivid sense of decoration. Among his early works may be mentioned the Drunkenness of Noah in the Corsini Gallery in Rome. Belonging to his mature period are the decorations of the church of S. Silvestro in Capite, which have been too radically repainted, and the Fall of the Angels in the church of S. Carlo al Corso, with masses admirably poised in atmospheric space; the Glory of St. Charles and the Saint among the Plague-stricken in the same church are, however, somewhat heavier. His masterpiece is perhaps the Martyrdom of St. Blaise in S. Carlo a’ Catinari (1680), a painting executed in competition with Maratta, where the luminous effects are heightened by the composition structured along diagonal axes.
Brandi, Giacinto — St. Peter — Rome, Borghese Gallery.