Saint Peter Attributed To Giacinti Brandi (1621-1691) “

A religious painting depicting Saint Peter, attributed to the Roman painter Giacinto Brandi, with an expression of rare beauty, turns his gaze towards us. Brandi was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active primarily in Rome and Naples. Born in Rome, he trained in the workshop of Alessandro Algardi, a renowned sculptor who noticed Brandi's greater talent for painting. He then joined the workshop of Giovanni Giacomo Sementi. He went to Naples in 1638 and, in 1647, returned to Rome to work under Giovanni Lanfranco, where Brandi befriended Mattia Preti. The two artists would later collaborate on several occasions. His works are well distributed in the Baroque churches of Rome, including the ceiling frescoes of San Carlo al Corso (1670-1671), San Silvestro in Capite, Sant'Andrea al Quirinale, a canvas of Sant'Andrea (1650) in Santa Maria in Via Lata, a painting of the Martyrdom of the Forty (1660) for the Chiesa delle Santissima Stimmate di San Francesco, a Coronation of the Virgin (1680) which serves as the main altarpiece for the church of Gesù e Maria, a painting of the Drunkenness of Noah in the Galleria Corsini, an Assumption (1655) for Santa Maria in Organo in Verona, Piazza Navona and a Martyrdom of San Biagio for the church of San Carlo ai Catinari a Visione del beato Giovanni di San Facondo (1656) (1673) he joined the Congregation of Virtuosos in the Pantheon in Rome and, from 1651, he was a member of the Academy of San Luca for painters. In 1663, he created frescoes on the life of Saint Erasmus for the crypt of the Gaeta Cathedral. Some of his works can be found in Milan, Toledo, and Zaragoza.