- Also known as
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Lodovico Gimignani
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primary name: Gimignani, Lodovico
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other name: Gimignani, Ludovico
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other name: Giminiani, Lodovico
- Details
- individual; painter/draughtsman; Roman; Italian; Male
- Life dates
- 1643-1697
- Biography
- Painter, b. 1643 Rome, d. 1697 Zagarola. Worked in Rome.
Son and pupil of the painter Giacinto Gimignani (q.v.), he was a member of the équipe employed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini on a number of artistic projects undertaken during the pontificate of Alexander VII. These include Lodovico's first public commission, an 'Annunciation' in the Fonseca Chapel, S. Lorenzo in Lucina, Rome (c. 1663), the composition of which is based on a picture by Guido Reni (1575-1642) in the chapel of the Palazzo Quirinale; and the 'Rest on the Flight into Egypt', an altarpiece in one of the side chapels of the then newly erected Collegiata at Ariccia (1665).
Giulio Rospigliosi, the future Pope Clement IX and the artist's godfather, financed a trip to Venice and Modena and subsequently commissioned a series of four paintings (1668-9), two each treating scenes from the life of the then recently canonised SS Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi and Pedro de Alcantara (see 1946,0713.1503). The artist's later work includes the decoration of the Aquilanti Chapel, S. Maria di Montesanto, Rome, consisting of the altarpiece and two lateral paintings with scenes from the life of S. Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi and a fresco of 'Christ in Glory' on the vault of the chapel (before 1686) (see SL,5211.57 and 1946,0713.834). Shortly thereafter Ludovico painted for S. Maria in Campitelli, Rome, the altarpiece of the 'Conversion of St Paul', third chapel on the left (c. 1686), and the fresco 'Glory of St John the Baptist' on the vault of the second chapel on the left (c. 1686-90). Lodovico's decorations of the ceiling of the Palazzo Carpegna, now in the Palazzo Madama, with a central panel showing the 'Apotheosis of Caesar', surrounded by scenes from the Roman emperor's life, probably also date from this period (1680s). From 1680 to 1697, Lodovico was continuously employed on the decorations of S. Silvestro in Capite, his most extensive and prestigious commission. His share in the work comprises the fresco of the 'Baptism of Constantine' in the apse (1688), scenes in the transept as well as the design of the lateral chapels, this last part together with the architect Mattia de' Rossi. Ludovico also designed numerous prints, including a 'Triumph of Virtue' for the thesis of Benedetto Pamphilj, engraved by Albert Clouwet (1676).
The painting of Lodovico's early years is stylistically dependent on the work of his father, Giacinto, and on Bernini (q.v.), while the drawings of this time reveal the additional influence of Guglielmo Cortese (q.v.), with whom he also worked closely on several early projects. Lodovico's mature works show him to have been affected also by Maratti's Late Baroque classicism, which from the mid-1670s onwards became the dominant idiom in Rome.
- Bibliography
- Turner 1999
