FRANCESCHINI, MARCANTONIO. - Painter, born in Bologna on 5 April 1648 and died there on 24 December 1729. A pupil of Galli-Bibiena and subsequently of Cignani, he was president of the Accademia Clementina and had a highly flourishing school in Bologna.
He worked not only in his native city but also in Genoa, Modena, Reggio, Piacenza, and other cities, continuing Cignani’s manner and everywhere displaying his skill as a decorator. He also spent two years in Rome, where he provided several cartoons for the mosaics of S. Pietro. His most celebrated work is, in Bologna, the decoration of the dome and vault of the church of the « Corpus Domini », executed in collaboration with the architectural perspectivist E. Hoffner; among his other works may be mentioned: in his native city, the decoration of the tribune of S. Bartolomeo, and in Piacenza, the pendentives of the dome in the Duomo. He also decorated in Genoa the great vault of the hall of the public council, later destroyed by fire,
but which Lanzi recalls as having been greatly admired by Menga. Among his paintings, the Autoristratto and the Amor vittorioso are in the Uffizi; in the Pinacoteca of Bologna, a Socra Famiglia, a Vergine col Bambino, and an Annunciazione—all works (like the many others scattered throughout churches) that reveal a mannerist weariness and a consummate academic virtuosity.