GRIMALDI, FRANCESCO. — Architect and Theatine monk, born in 1545 at Oppido di Lucania and died probably around 1630. Active especially in Naples, he must nevertheless have completed his artistic education in Rome, as the clear influence of the Roman school is evident in his works.
His first work in Naples was perhaps the church of S. Andrea delle Dame (1585–90), followed by the church of S. Paolo Maggiore (1590–1603), built over the ruins of the temple of the Dioscuri and among the earliest Neapolitan churches of the Baroque period. He subsequently undertook the construction of the church of the Sapienza (begun in 1614 and completed by Fanzago), of S. Maria degli Angeli, and of the SS. Apostoli (begun in 1626 and derived from the Gesù church in Rome). But always celebrated, also because of the competition in which he prevailed over architects of great renown, is his chapel of the Treasury of S. Gennaro, begun in 1608 and conceived as an independent church, which was later to provide Fanzago with the inspiration for some of his churches. Begun in 1620 and, according to ancient testimonies, similar to the chapel of the Treasury, the Trinità delle Monache was also completed by Fanzago and has now been demolished. The demolished church of the Gesù at Monteleone in Calabria has also been attributed to him, as was once S. Andrea della Valle in Rome. His work reveals an energetic plastic feeling for architectural forms, and thus stands outside the currents of seventeenth-century Neapolitan art. G. has been reassessed by more recent criticism, which has defined him as an artist superior even to the better-known Fanzago (Pane).