Ciro Ferri

Who was Ciro Ferri?

Ciro Ferri was an Italian Baroque sculptor and painter, the chief pupil and successor of Pietro da Cortona.

He was born in Rome, where he began working under Cortona and with a team of artists in the extensive fresco decorations of the Quirinal Palace. He collaborated with Cortona and completed for him the extensive frescoed ceilings and other internal decorations begun in the Pitti Palace, Florence. His independent masterpiece is considered an extensive series of scriptural frescoes in the church of Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. In addition, also well known is his an altarpiece of St Ambrose Healing the Sick in the church of Sant'Ambrogio della Massima in Rome.

In 1670, he began the painting of the cupola of Sant'Agnese in Agone in central Rome, in a style recalling of Lanfranco's work in the dome of Sant'Andrea della Valle; but died before it was completed in 1693 by his successor Sebastiano Corbellini.

He executed also a large amount of miscellaneous designs, such as etchings and frontispieces for books; and served as an architect as well. Ferri was appointed to direct the Florentine students in Rome, and Gabbiani was one of his leading pupils. As regards style, Ferri ranks as chief of the grand manner of Cortona, as opposed to the more sober and spare style promulgated by Andrea Sacchi, and continued by Carlo Maratta and others. The 1911 Britannica refers to this as the so-called Machinists movement. Among the many pupils and assistants were Ambrogio Besozzi, Camillo Gabrielli, Marziale Carpinoni, Filippo Maria Galetti, Benedetto Luti, Giovanni Battista Marmi, Pietro Montanini, Giuseppe Nasini, Giovanni Odazzi, Tommaso Redi, and Urbano Romanelli.