Biography

Italian painter, brother of Francesco Fracanzano. His style was formed in Apulia, and his earliest works, such as the Holy Family and the Education of the Virgin (San Gaetano, Barletta), were influenced by the Mannerist painters Gerolamo Imparato, Ippolito Borghese and Fabrizio Santafede. In 1622 he went to Naples, and c. 1630 he and his brother worked in the studio of Ribera. Such works as the St John the Baptist (early 1630s; Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples)) were influenced by the master's use of colour, though not by his harsh realism.

Between 1633 and 1635 Cesare worked in Barletta. He was interested in light and colour, and the graceful, Mannerist figures of the Christ at the Column Comforted by Angels (c. 1629-31; Naples, Pinacoteca dei Girolamini, Naples) and the St Michael (c. 1635; Museo Nazionale di San Martino, Naples) are painted in brilliant reds and ochres inspired by the glowing colours of van Dyck, whose influence was important in Neapolitan art in this period.

After 1640 Cesare's art became more disciplined and academic, revealing the impact of Massimo Stanzione, as in the Magdalene (Palazzo Vescovile, Andria), and of Guido Reni, as in the Crucifixion (San Ferdinando, Bari). In 1640 he frescoed the vault of the nuns' choir in Santa Maria della Sapienza, Naples, with an Assumption of the Virgin, which suggests a response to Giovanni Lanfranco. This is close in style to the fresco cycle (c. 1650) of scenes from the lives and martyrdoms of SS Cosma and Damiano in the church at Conversano in Apulia, probably his last work. Carlo Rosa, Francesco Antonio Altobello and Nicola Glizi were followers of Cesare.