Circle of Antonio Tempesta

Essay:

Giovanni Baglione states that Antonio Tempesta began to study painting and drawing in his native Florence under Giovanni Stradano, when the Fleming was at work on the decoration of the Palazzo Vecchio under Vasari's direction. Tempesta's predilection in later life for battle and hunting scenes, as well as his vast graphic production, testify to the lasting influence of this early training. He arrived in Rome under Pope Gregory XIII who reigned between 1572 and 1585, and worked first with Matthijs Brill on the frescoes with landscape and figures on the Terze Logge, the Gallery and the Sala Vecchia degli Svizzeri in the Vatican Palace, where Baglione singled out the figures in the 'Translation of the Body of St. Gregory Nazianzeno and the monochrome 'Allegories of Fame and Honour' for praise. After Matthijs Brill's death, Tempesta collaborated with this brother Paul on important decorative projects, which included, among other things, the frescoes on the celebrated spiral staircase at Caprarola for the Farnese family. His prints of incidents from the Old and New Testaments, lives of the saints, historical scenes, and Ovid's fables served fellow artists in Italy and the rest of Europe as an endless source of iconographic material.