Francesco Gessi was an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 painter of the Baroque

Baroque

The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

 period, active mainly in Bologna

Bologna

Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...

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Born to a noble family, but his father noticed his attraction to the arts and placed him in the apprenticeship with Denys Calvaert. This did not last, since he apparently disturbed the other pupils. He was more successful under the tutelage of Guido Reni

Guido Reni

Guido Reni was an Italian painter of high-Baroque style.-Biography:Born in Bologna into a family of musicians, Guido Reni was the son of Daniele Reni and Ginevra de’ Pozzi. As a child of nine, he was apprenticed under the Bolognese studio of Denis Calvaert. Soon after, he was joined in that...

. From there, he obtained commissions to fresco in Ravenna

Ravenna

Ravenna is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and the second largest comune in Italy by land area, although, at , it is little more than half the size of the largest comune, Rome...

, Mantua

Mantua

Mantua is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province of the same name. Mantua's historic power and influence under the Gonzaga family, made it one of the main artistic, cultural and notably musical hubs of Northern Italy and the country as a whole...

, and also the Capella del Tesoro in Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

. He ultimately desisted from attempting to complete the latter in the dangerously competitive art world of Naples. Yet returning to Bologna, he began a campaign against his former patron, Reni, attempting to compete and dismissing Reni's achievements. He was able to establish a prolific studio in Bologna. His main collaborator from the studio of Reni was Giovanni Giacomo Sementi, and among his pupils were Giovanni Battista

Giovanni Battista Ruggieri

Giovanni Battista Ruggieri was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. In 1606 became a pupil of Domenichino. He was also called del Gessi, because later became s pupil of Francesco Gessi. Ruggieri accompanied Gessi to Naples in time of Urban VIII. He was patronized by the Giustiniani family and...

 and his brother Ercolino Ruggiero, Giacomo Castellini, Francesco Correggio, and Giulio Trogli

Giulio Trogli

Giulio Trogli was an Italian painter of the Baroque period.He was initially a pupil of Francesco Gessi in Bologna. Giulio Trogli, devoting himself to quadratura, under Agostino Mitelli, and published a work entitled " Paradossi della Prospettiva," and from then on, took the nickname of il...

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