Giulio Cesare Procaccini

Bio

Born into a family of Bolognese painters, Procaccini moved from Bologna to Milan around 1590 and worked there as a sculptor. His earliest recorded work as a painter was for the Church of S. Maria Presso S. Celso, Milan, where he painted frescoes in 1602 and two years later delivered the altarpiece of the Pietà. In 1602, at the behenst of Archbishop Federico Borromeo, he began six large Miracles of S. Carlo Borromeo for the Milan Duomo, which were completed in 1610 as part of a cycle of paintings to honour St. Charles Borromeo’s memory in the year of the saint’s canonization. Cerano and Morazzone also collaborated on this cycle. If any traces of Bolognese upbringing are revealed in his work, they point to the earlier Emilian Mannerists, rather than to the Carraccis and their Academy. It is only after his stay in Modena that Procaccini’s work was greatly influenced by the Parma school, above all by Parmigianino, as is evident in the Circumcision of 1616 in the Galleria Estense, Modena. From 1611 to 1622, he worked for Gio. Carlo Doria in Genoa. This brought Procaccini into contact with Rubens’ works and he made a c6nsiderable impact on the development of the local school. By the middle of the second decade his painting had achieved greater balance in composition and also displays a more vigorous handling. However, by the end of the decade, Procaccini reverted to his earlier Mannerist principles as evidenced by such pictures as Constantine Receiving the Instruments of the Passion of 1620 in the Galleria Estense, Modena.