SAGRESTANI, Giovanni Camillo
(b. 1660, Firenze, d. 1731, Firenze)

Biography

Italian painter. He played an important role in introducing the decorative art of the late Baroque to Florence. He studied with Antonio Giusti and Romolo Panfi (1632-1690) and then visited Rome, Venice and Bologna, where he joined Carlo Cignani's workshop. On returning to Florence in the 1690s he enrolled (1694) in the Accademia del Disegno and became interested in the anti-academic style of Pietro Dandini and Alessandro Gherardini (1655-1723). His earliest known works are from 1702: the frescoes and the altarpiece in the chapel of Santa Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi in San Frediano in Cestello, Florence. In 1707 he produced eight canvases depicting scenes from the Life of the Virgin for Santa Margherita in Santa Maria de' Ricci, and between 1708 and 1714 he made two paintings for Santa Maria delle Selve in Lastra a Signa.