IACOPINO del CONTE. - Painter, b. in Firenze in 1510, d. in Roma on 9 Jan. 1598. A pupil of Andrea del Sarto, he was also influenced by Michelangelo and by the leading Tuscan mannerists, especially Salviati. Having moved to Roma, in 1538 he became a member of the Congregazione dei virtuosi al Pantheon and subsequently of the Accademia di S. Luca.
For the Oratorio di S. Giovanni Decollato, the ancient Florentine Confraternity of the Misericordia, I. del C. painted his first and principal Roman works in three frescoes respectively depicting: The announcement of the birth of the Baptist to Zachariah (1535), the Preaching of the Baptist (1538), and the Baptism of Christ (1541). At the same time and afterwards he painted altarpieces for the churches of Roma, among which there remains in S. Luigi de' Francesi that of the chapel of S. Remigio, as well as portraits, some of them very beautiful, such as that of Michelangelo in the Chaise d'Estampes collection, that of S. Ignazio di Loyola at the Compagnia di Gesù in Roma, and that of a young Scarlatti in the Galleria Pitti in Firenze. Venturi has attributed to I. himself the Madonna with the Child, St. John the Baptist, and Angels in the National Gallery in London, previously recognized as a work by Michelangelo. A painter of very remarkable chromatic and draughtsmanly power, I. created his masterpiece in the frescoes of the Roman Oratorio di S. Giovanni Decollato, where the skilfully constructed compositions acquire the quality of grandiose painted high reliefs. His pupil was Scipione Pulzone da Gaeta.