Early Baroque Italian artist who was a great rival to Caravaggio. Giovanni Baglioni was a leader in the artistic movement which led out of the Renaissance. Known as the "Deaf Man of the Barozzo," a painter of distinction, his artistic work is, however, overshadowed by his biographies of his contemporaries. The literary work which furnishes his chief claim to fame is his Lives of the Painters, Sculptors, and Architects living in Rome, from 1573 to 1642.

Sacred and Profane Love

Giovanni Baglioni was a pupil of Francesco Morelli and during his life did a number of works of importance at Rome under Popes Sixtus V, Clement VIII, and Paul V, notably in the Vatican, in Saint Peter's, and in Saint John Lateran. Pope Paul V created him a Knight of the Order of Christ for his painting Saint Peter Raising Tabitha from the dead. This was in St. Peter's but is not now extant.

For the church of Santa Maria dell' Orto he painted in the chapel of Our Lady with the Zuccheri scenes from the life of the Blessed Virgin. Among other works which he executed for this church is a Saint Sebastian. An excellent example of Baglioni's work is The Last Supper at San Nicolo in Carcere. From his brush also there is a Saint Stephen in the Cathedral at Perugia, and in that of Loretto a Saint Catherine.

Heavenly and Earthly Love