GIAQUINTO, CORRADO. - Painter, b. at Molfetta in 1703, d. at Naples in 1765. At Naples, in 1719, after a very brief stay with N. M. Rossi, he joined the school of Solimena. In 1722 he was in Rome, a collaborator of S. Conca, perhaps until 1731, the date of the first contract made in his own name for the frescoes of S. Nicola dei Lorenesi.
(Int. Anderson)
He remained in Rome until 1752, carrying out prolific work in fresco and oil; he left his best works in S. Lorenzo in Damaso (1741-43), in S. Giovanni Calibita (1741-42), in S. Croce in Gerusalemme (1744-46), in S. Nicola dei Lorenesi (1746; oil canvases), and at Palazzo Borghese (1747-47); and he alternated his Roman activity with frequent journeys (Turin 1733 and 1735-39, Macerata, after 1733, Cesena 1750-51) and with carrying out commissions on behalf of churches in Lazio and other regions (Rocca di Papa 1739, Naples 1744-45, Pisa 1751-52). In 1753, at the invitation of Ferdinand VI, he moved to Madrid; there he was made first painter of the chamber and president of the Academy of S. Fernando; and, turning his previous experiences to account, he displayed a vast production of high quality (Madrid, Prado and Royal Palace; Aranjuez, castle). He returned to his homeland in 1762 and settled in Naples.
G. was a facile and spirited painter, who took pleasure in a brilliant decoration, in which he succeeded in translating with rococo taste what he had assimilated from the great fresco painters of the seventeenth century, of whom he may be considered the direct continuator. He indeed completed the teachings of Solimena with the study of L. Giordano and of the Roman works of Lanfranco, of P. da Cortona and especially of G. B. Gaulli. He was above all a refined colorist, who, in order to give life to a fairy-tale world of pure fantasy, made use of a chromatic range intense and delicate at once, very rich in glazes and half-tones, which for its precious variety finds few parallels in contemporary painting. His rapid and nervous brushstroke, of frankly Neapolitan character, almost always makes the sketches more interesting than the finished works. In Spain and in Italy he had a large following of pupils and imitators.