Onofrio Gabrieli 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.

He was born in Gesso, near Messina, and had his initial studies in Messina under Antonio Alberti

Antonio Alberti

Antonio Alberti was an Italian painter, active mainly in 15th century in his native city of Ferrara, as well as Bologna and Urbino.He painted portraits and devotional topics. For the sacristy of the church of San Bernardino, outside Urbino, he painted a Madonna and Child enthroned...

 detto Barbalonga. He then moved to Rome, where he worked in the studios of Nicolas Poussin

Nicolas Poussin

Nicolas Poussin was a French painter in the classical style. His work predominantly features clarity, logic, and order, and favors line over color. His work serves as an alternative to the dominant Baroque style of the 17th century...

 and Pietro da Cortona

Pietro da Cortona

Pietro da Cortona, by the name of Pietro Berrettini, born Pietro Berrettini da Cortona, was the leading Italian Baroque painter of his time and also one of the key architects in the emergence of Roman Baroque architecture. He was also an important decorator...

. In 1641 he traveled to the Veneto

Veneto

Veneto is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about 5 million, ranking 5th in Italy.Veneto had been for more than a millennium an independent state, the Republic of Venice, until it was eventually annexed by Italy in 1866 after brief Austrian and French rule...

 (mainly Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

 and Padua

Padua

Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...

) to work with Domenico Maroli, established relationships with the Borromeo

Borromeo

-Members of the House of Borromeo:* Andrea Borromeo, a Theatine priest* Charles Borromeo , cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church* Federico Borromeo , archbishop of Milan, cousin of Charles-Other people:...

 family in Padua and returned in 1650 to Messina. In 1678, he fled the city to avoid Spanish repression, seeking refuge initially in France and then in Padua, Mantua and Ancona. Pardoned, he returned to Messina in 1701. He died in 1706, in Gesso.

Many of his paintings in Messina were destroyed by the earthquakes of 1783

1783 Calabrian earthquakes

The 1783 Calabrian earthquakes were a sequence of five strong earthquakes that hit the region of Calabria in southern Italy , the first two of which produced significant tsunamis. The epicenters form a clear alignment extending nearly 100 km from the Straits of Messina to about 18 km SSW...

 and 1908

1908 Messina earthquake

The 1908 Messina earthquake and tsunami took some 100,000–200,000 lives on December 28, 1908 in Sicily and Calabria, southern Italy.-Quake:On December 28, 1908 from about 05:20 to 05:21 an earthquake of 7.2 on the moment magnitude scale occurred centered on the of city Messina, in Sicily. Reggio...

. Only his Madonna del Soccorso remains presently in the Museo Regionale. In Milazzo

Milazzo

Milazzo is a town and comune in the province of Messina, Sicily, Italy.The city is situated between two bays, one of Milazzo and the east to the west of Patti, in a strategic place in the north-eastern Sicily.Located 43 km from the provincial capital, is part of the metropolitan area of the Strait...

, he painted in the churches of San Giuseppe and San Papino. Other paintings by Onofrio Gabrieli are in the following Sicilian towns: Siracusa, Randazzo

Randazzo

Randazzo is a town and comune of Sicily, Italy, in the province of Catania. It is situated at the northern foot of Mount Etna, 70 km NW of Catania by rail. It is the nearest town to the summit of Etna, and is one of the points from which the ascent may be made.-History:In the 13th century the...

, Monforte San Giorgio

Monforte San Giorgio

Monforte San Giorgio is a comune in the Province of Messina in the Italian region Sicily, located about 180 km east of Palermo and about 15 km west of Messina....

, Contesse, and Gesso.
He painted an altarpiece of the Virgin with child, Saints Clare, John the evangelist, and Nicolò (1695), for the church of Santa Chiara in Montelupone nelle Marche

Montelupone

Montelupone is a comune in the Province of Macerata in the Italian region Marche, located about 30 km south of Ancona and about 11 km northeast of Macerata...

. He also frescoed biblical themes for the villa Borromeo in Padua

Padua

Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...

. Other paintings with biblical themes are in the church in Montagnana

Montagnana

Montagnana is a town and comune in the province of Padova, in Veneto . It is bounded by other communes of Saletto, Megliadino San Fidenzio, Casale di Scodosia, Urbana, Bevilacqua, Pojana Maggiore and Noventa Vicentina...

and in the church of Our Lady of Carmel in Padua.