- Also known as
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Giuseppe Cesari d'Arpino
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primary name: Cesari d'Arpino, Giuseppe
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other name: Arpino, Giuseppe Cesari d'
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other name: Cavaliere d'Arpino
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other name: Josepin
- Details
- individual; painter/draughtsman; Roman; Italian; Male
- Other dates
- 1568-1640 (Birth date circa)
- Biography
- Painter. Giuseppe Cesari, called the Cavaliere d'Arpino, b. Rome 1568, d. there 3 July 1640 (Baglione), aged 72 years 4 months (memorial in S. Giovanni Laterano: Forcella, viii, p. 60, no. 160). Baglione explains that he chose to be called 'd'Arpino' because his father came from there, and because of the connection between the place and his earliest patrons, the Buon-compagni.
Taught by his father. Baglione says that his first independent work was a house façade in Rome, painted when he was about 13, and that he was later employed in the Vatican, in the Logge of Gregory XIII under supervision of Niccolò Circignani (q.v.) and Ignazio Danti. Given stipend by Gregory XIII, 22 Dec. 1583 (Röttgen, p. 177, doc. 1). In Sala Vecchia degli Svizzeri he painted 'Samson with the Gates of Gaza' and in Sala dei Palafrenieri (or Chiaroscuri) restored by Gregory XIII in 1582 (see Forcella, vi, p. 86, no. 253) "alcune Virtù con puttini coloriti ... e ... alcuni Apostoli". (For reprs. of these and most works mentioned below see Röttgen.) SS. Trinità dei Monti, cloister, 'Canonisation of S. Francesco di Paola' datable before 1585 (Faldi, p. 47, fig. 1; study, Uffizi 7749s, Gere, 'Manierismo', fig. 43).
1 Jan. 1586 admitted to Virtuosi al Pantheon (Röttgen, p. 25); already a member of Accademia di S. Luca (idem, p. 22) of which he served as 'Principe' in 1599, 1615 and 1629 (idem, pp.47, 178). 1588-91, frescoes in S. Atanasio dei Greci (idem, p. 24; Faldi, p. 49, figs. 5, 6). Probably 1586-9, S. Lorenzo in Damaso, frescoes for Cardinal Alessandro Farnese: 'St Lawrence visiting the Sick and St Lawrence accompanying Pope Sixtus II to Martyrdom' (both lost, known from copies), 'Glory of Angels', extant (Röttgen, nos. 1-4; Abromson, p. 28, n. 98). S. Prassede, Olgiati Chapel, vault frescoes, in hand by 1587 (Röttgen, doc. 2); Celio says 'ornamenti' by Giovanni Alberti.
28 June 1589, contract for frescoes on vault of choir of Certosa di S. Martino, Naples; payment acknowledged 7 Nov. 1589 (Röttgen, p. 177, docs. 3, 4), and for 'quadro' of 'Christ Crucified', 13 Feb. 1591 (idem, no. 7, repr.; doc. 5).
1591, two allegorical figures on catafalque of Sixtus (both engr. in B. Catani, 'La Pompa Funerale ...di Papa Sisto il Quinto', Rome, 1591). 1591-3, S. Luigi 61 Francesi, vault of Contarelli Chapel (see Pp,4.40). 11 Dec. 1592, first payment for 'Coronation of Virgin' in r; transept of S. M. in Vallicella, not executed 1615 (Abromson, pp. 359, 260); 1st chapel on 1., 'Presentation'. Palazzo del Sodalizio dei Piceni (formerly Orsini), 'Labours of Hercules' in loggia, c. 1594-5 (see Röttgen, 'Storia dell'Arte', figs. 1-26). 1594-7, S. M. in Traspontina, Chapel of St Barbara, 1st on r., altarpiece; rest of chapel by Rossetti (q.v.), probably on Arpino's designs (Röttgen no. 20; Abromson, pp. 46f.). S. M. in Via, 3rd chapel on r. (Aldobrandini), 'Annunciation', 'Adorations of Magi' and 'Shepherds', payment 1 Aug. 1595 (Abromson, pp. 44, 336, docs. 42-3; Röttgen, p. 64). 1595-1640, Palazzo dei Conservatori, Sala degli Orazi e Curiazi: commission Nov. 1595 (Röttgen, p. 31); 1595-7, 'Discovery of Romulus and Remus' (see Pp,4.38); 1597-1601, payments for 'Battle against the Veienti' (Röttgen, no. 17); 1612, 'Combat between the Horatii and Curiatii' (idem, p. 34); 1635-40, 'Rape of the Sabines', 'Institution of Religion', 'Foundation of Rome' (idem, p. 48). Feb. 1598, interim payment (see Corbo, 'Commentari', xxi (1970), p. 142) for two paintings in Lateran Baptistery (S. Giovanni in Fonte): 'St John the Evangelist led to his Grave', now in Old Sacristy, S. Giovanni in Laterano (Röttgen, no. 22; Abromson, p. 51, n. 38) and 'St John the Evangelist before the Tyrant', lost.
1598 accompanied Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini to Ferrara where he copied some of Titian's 'Bacchanals' (17th-c. commentator to Baglione; Abromson, p. 89, n. 133). 1600-1, in France with the Cardinal (Röttgen, p. 38).
S. Giovanni in Laterano, payments for supervising decoration of transepts, May 1599-Apr. 1601, where he himself painted 'Ascension' above Altar of Sacrament. Created Cavaliere di Cristo by Clement VIII (Abromson, p. 55; Röttgen, pp. 36ff.). 1602-3, decorated ceilings, Villa Aldobrandini, Frascati (Röttgen, p, 38; Abromson, p. 97). 1603-12, St Peter's, executed cartoons for the mosaics of the cupola (Röttgen, no. 40); cartoon fragment ('putto') in Methuen Coll., Corsham. 1604-5, S. Silvestro al Quirinale, vault of chapel now 1st on 1. (Abromson, p. 211). SS. Trinità dei Pellegrini, 2nd chapel on 1., altarpiece, 'Virgin and Child with Sts. Augustine and Francis', completed in or shortly before 1605 (see Forcella, vii, p. 203, no. 414; 'Sopr. Lazio' 1969, no. 20). 25 Sept. 1610-2 July 1612, S. M. Maggiore, payments for supervising decoration of Cappella Paolina (Corbo, 'Palatino', xi (1967), pp. 311f.), he being responsible for 'Evangelists' in pendentives and, in lunette above altar, scene with 'St Gregory Taumaturgo'.
Supervised decoration of Casino Montalto in Villa Lante, Bagnaia, c. 1614 (Passeri-Hess, p. 124).
S. M. della Scala, payment for 'Madonna and Child in choir', 1619 (Borsook, 'Burlington', xcvi (1954), p. 272). S. M. di Loreto, 1629, payments for 'Birth of the Virgin' and 'Death of the Virgin', oil-paintings in choir (the former, S. Benedetti, 'S. Maria di Loreto', Rome, 1968, fig. 28, and Röttgen, no. 59, repr.).
1629, 27 June, submitted cartoon for (unexecuted) altarpiece of 'Meeting of Attila and Leo the Great' for St Peter's (Röttgen, p. 47).
1630, created Knight of St Michael by Louis XIII (ibid.).
- Bibliography
- (from Gere & Pouncey 1983)
I. Faldi, 'Gli affreschi della Cappella Contarelli e l'opera giovanile del Cavalier d'Arpino', Bollettino, xxxviii (1953). pp. 45ff; H. Röttgen, 'Giuseppe Cesari, die Contarelli-Kapelle und Caravaggio', Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, xxvii (1964), pp. 201ff.; 'Giuseppe Cesaris Fresken in der Loggia Orsini', Storia dell'arte, 3 (1969), pp. 279ff.; II Cavalier d'Arpino, exh. cat. Rome, Palazzo Venezia, 1973, with previous bibliography (abbr. as Röttgen); G. Magnanimi, 'Contributo al catalogo del Cavalier d'Arpino', Paragone, 323 (1977), pp. 107ff.; N. Turner, 'A newly discovered painting by the Cavaliere d'Arpino', Burlington, cxix (1977), pp. 710ff.
(supplementary bibliography)
Herwarth Röttgen, 'Il Cavalier Giuseppe Cesari d'Arpino', Rome 2002 (catalogue); M.S. Bolzoni, 'Il Cavalier Giuseppe Cesari d'Arpino, Maestro del disegno: catalogo ragionato dell'opera grafica', Rome, 2013
