GIUSEPPE CESARI, known as the CAVALIER d’ARPINO. — Painter, born in Arpino (Frosinone) in 1560, died in Rome in 1640. He served in Rome under no fewer than ten popes; he also worked in Naples (1589–91) on the decoration of the dome and sacristy of S. Martino, and at the court of Henry IV of France in the company of Cardinal Aldobrandini. Faithfully adhering to late 16th-century styles at a time when the triumph of the Baroque was already in preparation, he was already considered outdated in his own day—not only by the Caravaggisti but even by the Carracci.
His most significant work is certainly the decoration of the Sala dei Conservatori in the Campidoglio, but he produced numerous works in Roman churches, including S. Cesareo (design for the apse museum), S. Giovanni in Laterano (fresco of the Ascension), S. Prassede (frescoes on the vault of the third chapel on the left aisle), as well as S. Maria Maggiore, S. Maria in Via, S. Luigi dei Francesi, and St. Peter’s Basilica, for which he provided the designs for the papal and episcopal portraits in the sixteen ribs of the dome. He also executed works in churches and in private and public galleries in many Italian and foreign cities.