Biography

Italian painter, draughtsman and printmaker. Enrolled at the Accademia del Disegno in Florence on 8 December 1576, he was a pupil of Santi di Tito, then of Joannes Stradanus, with whom he worked under Giorgio Vasari on the interior decoration of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. He then went to Rome, where he again had links with artists from the Netherlands. He and Matthijs Bril were commissioned by Pope Gregory XIII to paint the Transfer of the Relics of St Gregory of Nazianzus (1572) and other religious scenes in the loggias on the third floor of the Vatican Palace. In Tempesta's frescoes in the Palazzina Gambara at the Villa Lante in Bagnaia (1578-09), the hunting and fishing scenes, sweeping landscapes and urban backdrops again reveal the influence of Netherlandish art. From 1579 to 1583 Tempesta participated in the decoration of the Palazzo Farnese in Caprarola, notably of the Scala Regia. He is also known to have collaborated on the frescoes in the Villa d'Este at Tivoli.

His fresco decorations, precious little paintings on marble, and engravings are characterized by representative vivacity and high execution quality. Tempesta's most famous works are: Grotesques of Scala Regia (Palazzo Farnese, Caprarola), Triumph of Love and of Fame (Rome, Casino Rospigliosi), scenes of hunting, processions and battles (Palazzo Borghese, Palazzo Giustiniani, Casino Rospigliosi in Rome, Villa Lante in Viterbo), frieze dedicated to Charles V (Palazzo Antici-Mattei, Rome), a great map of Rome (Galleria Clementina, Vatican).