POMARANCIO, CRISTOFORO RONCALLI, known as il. — Painter, born in Pomarance, near Volterra, in 1552, died in Rome on 14 May 1626.
A pupil of Niccolò Circignani, also known as il P., C. R. appears as a typical exponent of the late Mannerist painting of central Italy between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. According to Baglione, he began working in the Vatican Loggias under the pontificate of Gregorio XIII. Between 1583 and 1585 he was paid for work in the old Hall of the Quirinal, together with others, including Pasquale Cati. Further payments for fresco work in S. Pietro on behalf of P. are recorded between 1599 and 1606. In that year, however, and until 1610, he was active at the S. Casa of Loreto. The frescoes on the vault of the sacristy of the Treasury remain his masterpiece. From 1618 dates a letter of his to Cardinal Maffeo Barberini (later Urbano VIII) concerning one of his paintings: Battaglia di Giacobbe con l'angelo. Whereas in the panels with Storie di L. Lorenzo at Spello (church of S. Lorenzo) P. follows Circignani, in the frescoes at Loreto the references to the school of Raffaello and to Correggio acquire convincing coherence and pictorial-decorative balance. Also worthy of mention are: the S. Agnese (Naples, church of the Gerolomini); the Maddalena penitente (Rome, formerly Galleria Barberini); the Santa Palazia (Milan, Ithera); the Vaticità (Genoa, San Siro), the Sacra Famiglia (Rome, Palazzo Spada); S. Domitilla (Rome, SS. Nereo ed Achilleo), etc.