Pomarancio, Cristoforo Roncalli, called Il

POMARANCIO, Cristoforo Roncalli, Called Il. - Painter, b. at Pomarance, near Volterra, in 1552, d. at Rome on 14 May 1626.

A pupil of Niccolò Circignani, also called il P., C. R. appears as a typical exponent of the late pictorial Mannerism of central Italy between the 16th and 17th centuries. According to Baglione, he began working in the Vatican Logge, under the pontificate of Gregory XIII. Between 1583 and 1585 he was paid for work in the Sala vecchia of the Quirinale, together with others, among them Pasquale Cati. Other payments for fresco work in St. Peter's in favor of P. are recorded between 1599 and 1606. In this year, however, until 1610, he is active in the S. Casa of Loreto. The frescoes of the vault in the sacristy of the Tesoro remain his masterpiece. From 1618 is a letter of his to Card. Maffeo Barberini (later Urban VIII) concerning a painting of his: the Battle of Jacob with the Angel. While in the small panels with Stories of St. Lawrence at Spello (church of S. Lorenzo) P. follows Circignani, in the frescoes of Loreto the references to the school of Raphael and to Correggio acquire convincing coherence and pictorial-decorative measure. To be remembered still: the St. Agnes (Naples, church of the Gerolomini); the Penitent Magdalene (Rome, formerly Galleria Barberini); the Santa Palazia (Milan, Ithera); the Vaticità (Genoa, San Siro), the Holy Family (Rome, Palazzo Spada); St. Domitilla (Rome, SS. Nereo ed Achilleo), etc.

Luigi Grassi