Antonio Gherardi


Antonio Gherardi was an Italian painter, architect, and sculptor of the Baroque style, active mainly in and near Rome and his native city of Rieti.

Life

Antonio was born in Rieti to Stefano and Giulia Poggi Tatoti, but when he moved to Rome he changed his name. His father, a middle-class craftsman, died when Antonio was only eight years old. In 1656, Monsignor Bulgarino Bulgarini, Governor of Rieti, became his patron. Two years later Bulgarini sponsored his travel to Rome, and introduced him to his future mentors, Pier Francesco Mola and Pietro da Cortona. In the large workshops organized by the latter, he developed skills in both painting and stucco decoration. The influence of Cortona on Gherardi was so significant that many of his first paintings were attributed to the old master.
Between 1667 and 1669 Gherardi travelled extensively in northern Italy. Upon his return to Rome, he painted the vaulted ceiling in Santa Maria in Trivio. In 1674, he joined the Accademia di San Luca. That same year he began work on scenes from the life of St.Francesco Solano for the Astalli Chapel at Santa Maria in Ara Coeli.
Gherardi drew freely on forms and ideas of Bernini, Borromini, and Cortona. The best examples of his work can be seen in the Santa Cecilia Chapel, San Carlo ai Catinari, and the Avila Chapel, Santa Maria in Trastevere, two of the most architecturally inventive chapels of the late-17th century in Rome.
In 1698 he was appointed architect and painter of the chapel of Santa Teresa in Santa Maria in Traspontina, which still preserves a painting of the Ecstasy of Santa Teresa.

Work

Among his works are