Giovanni Bernardino Azzolini (c. 1572 – 12 December 1645) 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 and sculptor who continued painting in a late-Mannerist

Mannerism

Mannerism is a period of European art that emerged from the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520. It lasted until about 1580 in Italy, when a more Baroque style began to replace it, but Northern Mannerism continued into the early 17th century throughout much of Europe...

 style, mainly active 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...

 and Genoa

Genoa

Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....

. He is also known by Azzolino or Mazzolini or Asoleni.

Life and work

Born in the town of Cefalù

Cefalù

Cefalù is a city and comune in the province of Palermo, located on the northern coast of Sicily, Italy on the Tyrrhenian Sea about 70 km east from the provincial capital and 185 km west of Messina...

 in Sicily

Sicily

Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...

, where he likely received his initial training. He had moved to Naples by 1594. He then settled in Genoa, where he was elected to local Accademia di San Luca (painter's guild) in 1618. In Naples, he painted a Presentation at the Temple (1599) for the church of Santa Maria La Nova

Santa Maria La Nova

Santa Maria la Nova is a church in Naples, southern Italy. It is located on the site given to the Franciscan order in 1279 when Charles of Anjou decided to build his Castel Nuovo , or Maschio Angioino, on the grounds of the order's original monastery, whence the name Nova .The "new" church was...

. He painted a Pentecost for the church of San Francesco at Caiazzo. Among his paintings in Genoa, is an Annunciation painted for the church of Monache Turchine, and a Martyrdom of St. Apollonia for the church of San Giuseppe

San Giuseppe (Naples)

San Giuseppe is a neighbourhood of Naples, southern Italy, that includes many of the items of interest on the western side of the historic center of Naples, including the square and church of Gesù Nuovo, the buildings along via Benedetto Croce and the square, Piazza San Domeico Maggiore....

. He painted a canvas of St. Francis Xavier's vision of the Virgin for the saint's chapel in the church of Gesù Nuovo

Gesù Nuovo

Gesù Nuovo is the name of a church and a square in Naples, Italy. They are located just outside the western boundary of the historic center of the city. The existence of the square is a consequence of the expansion of the city to the west beginning in the early 16th century under the rule of ...

 in Naples. His daughter married the painter Jusepe de Ribera and his son-in-law worked together with him on some commissions.