LANFRANCO, GIOVANNI

born Jan. 26, 1582, Parma died Nov. 30, 1647, Rome also called Giovanni Di Steffano, or Il Cavaliere Giovanni Lanfranchi Italian painter, one of the early exponents of High Baroque illusionism. He was a pupil of Agostino Carracci in Parma (160002) and later studied with Annibale Carracci in Rome. The decisive influence on his work, however, was not the Baroque classicism of the Carracci but the dynamic illusionism of the dome paintings in Parma by Correggio. Lanfranco's painting in the dome of S. Andrea della Valle in Rome (162125) derives directly from Correggio in its virtuoso use of vigorously posed figures floating in the clouds over the spectator's head. Lanfranco worked in Naples from 1633/34 to 1646, his best known work there being the dome of the chapel of S. Gennaro in the cathedral (164146). He was a bitter rival of Domenichino, both in Rome and later in Naples.