BRANDI, GIACINTO. - Painter, b. at Poli in 1623, d. at Rome in 1691. He was a pupil of Lanfranco, in whose workshop he remained until about 1650, inheriting from him breadth of composition, rapid effects of light, and a vivid sense of decoration. Among his early works may be mentioned the Drunkenness of Noah in the Corsini Gallery in Rome. The decorations of the church of S. Silvestro in Capite, too radically repainted, belong to his maturity, as does 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 at S. Carlo a' Catinari (1680), a painting executed in competition with Maratta, in which the effects of light are enhanced by a composition developed along diagonal axes.
