CAPORALI, GIOVANNI BATTISTA, also called BITTI. - Son of Bartolomeo, b. in Perugia ca. 1476 and d. 1560. A man of letters, architect, painter, and miniaturist, he is remembered for a commentary on Vitruvius, while very little certain remains of his pictorial work.
First a pupil of his father, he was later active in the workshop of Pinturicchio, whom he helped to paint the panel from Umbertide with the Coronation (1503, now in the Vatican Library). The fresco with Jesus between St. John the Baptist and St. Peter in the church of Cereseto near Panicale (ca. 1510), and the panel with the Nativity at Panicale (estimated to date from 1519), in which, besides Pinturicchiesque features, the painter also shows adherence to the influences of the art of Perugino and Raffaello, are considered his works. Later, however, he seems to have detached himself from the Umbrian current and drawn closer instead to the Roman one centred on Giulio Romano, not without some aspiration to Michelangelesque magniloquence (vedi gli affreschi di villa Passerini presso Cortona del 1525, la volta di s. Maria della Luce a Perugia, press'a poco dello stesso tempo, e le storie di s. Antonio Abate nella chiesa omonima a Deruta). A friend of men of letters and artists, he enjoyed a good reputation in his time and was also mentioned by Vasari.