Lorenzo de’ Ferrari

1680–1744, Genoa

The painter and draughtsman Lorenzo de' Ferrari was the son of Gregorio de’ Ferrari and Margherita Piola and the most important member of the second generation of what is known as the Casa Piola, the influential and productive studio which dominated Genoese painting for a century starting from around 1650. Lorenzo was a pupil of his father and was decisively influenced in his young years by the art of Guido Reni and Anthony van Dyck, who had been active for several years in Genoa. Lorenzo initially worked as an assistant to his father, but in time developed an unmistakable style of his own. He executed numerous commissions for religious and secular murals and ceiling paintings, and eventually became one of the most esteemed representatives of illusionist decorative painting in Genoa.