FRANCESCHINI, BALDASSARE

born 1611, Volterra, republic of Florence died 1689, Florence also called Il Volterrano Italian painter of the Baroque era. At a very early age Franceschini started as an assistant to his father, a sculptor. From 1652 to 1660 he worked on paintings in the cupola of the Niccolini Chapel in Santa Croce, Florence. His work during these years was his most notable. Among his best oil paintings of large scale is the St. John the Evangelist in the Church of San Chiara at Volterra. One of his last works was the fresco of the cupola of the Annunziata, Florence, which occupied him for two years about 1683.