Alessandro Turchi

Alessandro Turchi (1578 - 1649) was an Italian painter of the early Baroque, born and active mainly in Verona, and moving late in life to Rome. He also went by the name Alessandro Veronese or the nickname "L'Obetto".

Turchi initially trained with Felice Riccio ("il Brusasorci") in Verona. By 1603, he is already working as independent painter, and in 1606-1609, Turchi paints the organ shutters for the Filarmonica Academy of Verona. When Brusasorci dies in 1605, Turchi and his fellow Paschal Ottino (or Pasquale) complete a series of their deceased master's canvases. In 1610, he completes an "Assumption" altarpiece for the church of San Luca of Verona In 1612, the Veronese Guild of the Goldsmiths commissions an altarpiece, today lost, of the "Madonna and Saints". On leaving the school of Riccio, he went to Venice, where he worked for a time under Curio Cagliari.

By 1616, Turchi travels to Rome participating in the fresco decoration ("Gathering of Manna") of the Sala Regia of the Quirinal Palace, and painting a "Christ, Magdalen, and angels" for cardinal Scipione Borghese. [now in Galleria Borghese] In competition with Andrea Sacchi and Pietro da Cortona, he painted some pictures in the church of La Concezione. In 1619, he sends an altarpiece of the "40 martyrs" for the Chapel of the Innocents in Santo Stefano of Verona, to hang next to paintings by Pasquale Ottino and Marcantonio Bassetti.He also painted a "Flight into Egypt" for S. Romualdo; a "Holy Family" for S. Lorenzo in Lucina; and a "S. Carlo Borromeo" in S. Salvatore in Lauro. He was much employed on cabinet pictures, representing historical subjects, which he frequently painted on black marble. His two pupils, Giovanni Ceschini and Giovanni Battista Rossi, practiced in Verona, the former painting copies of his master's works, which were often taken for originals.

For the Count Giangiacomo Giusti, in 1620 he paints an "Allegory of Fame between Mercury and Pallas Athena" and three canvases of "Faith", "Hope", and "Charity". In 1621 executes for French cardinal François de Sourdis the "Resurrection of Christ", now in the cathedral of Sant'Andrea of Bordeaux, and sends the "Adoration of the Magi" for the Gherardini family in Verona. By 1621, he had completed a painting of "San Carlo Borromeo and the Madonna in Glory" for San Salvatore in Lauro in Rome. Documents from 1629, indicate Turchi was paid 110 scudi for painting "St. Anthony of Padua" for the Farnese Palace at Caprarola. In 1632, an inventory of the Palazzo Mattei di Giove, records a "Saint Marta and Maria Madalena" and a "Samaritan Women" by Turchi.

His sister married Giacinto Gimignani. In 1623, Turchi married Lucia San Giuliano. In 1637, with the sponsoship of the cardinal Francesco Barberini, he became Principe or director of the Accademia di San Luca. In 1638, he joined the Pontifical Accademia dei Virtuosi of the Pantheon. He died in Rome.

References

* [http://www.comune.verona.it/Castelvecchio/cvsito/mostratt.htm Biography] , see "Alessandro Turchi 1578-1649 detto l'Orbetto".
*cite book| first=Michael| last=Bryan| year=1889| title="Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, Biographical and Critical" (Volume II: L-Z)| editor = Walter Armstrong & Robert Edmund Graves| pages= page 591| publisher=George Bell and Sons|location=York St. #4, Covent Garden, London; Original from Fogg Library, Digitized May 18, 2007 |id= |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=K2cCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1&dq=Michael+Bryan+Painters+Engravers#PPP7,M1| authorlink=