Giovanni Baglione’s Lives are considered to be the main source for artists living in Rome, between the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. They are also an important account of the art of late Mannerism and the emerging Roman baroque style.
Baglione’s Lives are structured differently to those discussed so far, with the artists’ biographies being subdivided into the periods of reigning Popes. This was a logical move on Baglione’s part, as the Papacy was absolutely pivotal to artistic patronage within the city.
Baglione was criticised by some contemporaries, for an overt emphasis upon the repetition of anecdotal stories and the recounting of inaccuracies. However unlike many other biographers, he was less inclined to describe the lives of artists according to a prescribed aesthetic or theoretical bias. Baglione also sought to make his Lives accessible, by largely only referencing works of art that were viewable to the general public at large.
Included in the Lives is the first biography of the painter Carravaggio. Baglione had earlier sued the artist for defamation, as a result of Carravaggio spreading slanderous remarks about him, accusing Baglione of artistic plagiarism.
Baglione is one of the main sources referenced by other art biographers, for baroque Italian artists of the seventeenth century.
Carravaggio, Boy Bitten by a Snake, c.1594-1596
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