04 Works, Today, February 17th, is Saint Alexis Falconieri's Day, With Footnotes - #48

Antonio Pillori, Italian, 18th centur

Alexis Falconieri (1200 – 17 February 1310)

Antonio Pillori, Born c. 1687; died 1763, was a pupil of Sim. Pignoni and Lorenzo Rossi, and an imitator of Mehu. He executed frescoes in the monastery of Montesenario and the church of S. Trinità in Livorno.

Alexis Falconieri (1200 – 17 February 1310) was one of the seven founders of the Servite Order, who are celebrated together on the anniversary of his death.

He was the son of Bernardo Falconieri, a merchant prince of Florence, and one of the leaders of the Republic. His family belonged to the Guelph party, and opposed the Imperialists whenever they could consistently with their political principles.

The SEVEN SAINTS FOUNDERS of the SERVITES of MARY

Falconieri grew up in the practice of the most profound humility. He became a wealthy noble in one of Italy’s most wealthy and cultured cities. He joined the Laudesi, a confraternity of the Blessed Virgin, and there met the six future companions of his life of sanctity. They were favoured with an apparition of the Mother of God, 15 August 1233. The seven soon afterwards founded the Order of the Servites. Its objectives are the sanctification of its members, preaching the Gospel, and the propagation of devotion to the Mother of God, with special reference to her sorrows.  Falconieri at once abandoned all, and retired to La Camarzia, a house on the outskirts of the town, and the following year to Monte Senario.

Agostino Masucci, (1691–1758)

The Madonna with the Seven Founders of the Servite Order, c. 

1723–1733

Oil on canvas

68 13/16 x 45 9/16 in. (174.8 x 115.7 cm)

Art Institute of Chicago

Agostino Masucci (1691 – 19 October 1758) was an Italian painter of the late-Baroque or Rococo period.

Born in Rome, he initially apprenticed with Andrea Procaccino, and then became a member of the studio of Carlo Maratta. He joined the Accademia di San Luca in 1724, and from 1736 to 1738, he was director or Principe. Masucci worked for the House of Savoy, and also obtained commissions from John V of Portugal.

Masucci also made the models for the three main mosaic panels in the Chapel of St. John the Baptist for King John V of Portugal. It was completed in 1750, although the mosaics in it were not finished until 1752. It was held to be the most expensive chapel in Europe up to that time.

For the Royal house of Savoy, he painted a series of historical canvases. Most of the works he completed, however, were in churches in Rome. He painted the Madonna with the Seven Founders of the Servite Order (c. 1728 found in the Art Institute of Chicago. (above)


His academicism and grand-manner painting span styles from Baroque to incipient Neoclassicism. More on Agostino Masucci

As they were praying in devotion to Mary's sorrows, she appeared to them and gave them the Black Scapular of her sorrows.

With humility, he traversed, as a mendicant, relying chiefly or exclusively on charitable donations to survive; in quest of alms for his brethren, in the streets of the city through which he had lately moved as a prominent citizen. So deep and sincere was his humility that, though he lived to the great age of hundred and ten years, he always refused to enter the priesthood, of which he deemed himself unworthy.

Rosselli Matteo

Seven Founders of the Servite Order, with Saint Giuliana Falconieri

Oil on canvas
Width=”790″ height=”480″

The Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order of Mary receiving from the Blessed Virgin the black habit and the black scapular in honor of her Seven Sorrow.

"See what kind of clothes I want you to wear: they indicate in dark color the pains I felt today because of the death of my only Son."

Matteo Rosselli (10 August 1578 – 18 January 1650) was an Italian painter of the late Florentine Counter-Mannerism and early Baroque. He is best known however for his highly populated grand-manner historical paintings. On 26 February 1599, he was inducted to the Accademia del Disegno, and in 1605 traveled to Rome to work with Domenico Passignano for six months.

He completed some frescoes on Lives of Servite Monks (1614–1618) in the Palazzo Pitti and in the Cloister of the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata; a Madonna and child with St Francis altarpiece for the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Florence; and an Adoration of the Magi (1607) for the Church of Sant'Andrea in Montevarchi. He painted a Crucifixion (1613) now in the parish church at Scarperia. He painted a Last Supper (1614) now in Conservatorio di San Pier Martire.

Upon the French monarch's death, he was commissioned two commemorative paintings of events in the life of Henry IV: his visit to Nantes and Gaudabec (1610). He also completed an Assumption (1613) for the church of San Domenico in Pistoia. He painted a number of frescoes for the Casa Buonarroti based on events of Michelangelo's life.

The largest collection of Rosselli drawings is contained within the Louvre Museum, Paris, with many being preliminary sketches for other works. More on Matteo Rosselli

His duties were confined principally to the material needs of the various communities in which he lived. In 1252 the new church at Cafaggio, on the outskirts of Florence, was completed under his care, with the financial assistance of Chiarissimo Falconieri. Saint Giuliana Falconieri, his niece, was trained in sanctity under his personal direction.

The influence exerted on his countrymen by Falconieri and his companions may be gathered from the fact that in a few years ten thousand persons had enrolled themselves under the banner of the Blessed Virgin in the Servite Order.

His body rests near the church of the Santissima Annunziata in Florence. Clement XI declared Falconieri worthy of the veneration of the faithful, 1 December 1717, and accorded the same honour to his six companions, 3 July 1725.

Pope Leo XIII canonized them all on 15 January 1888. More on Alexis Falconieri

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05 Works, Today, February 16th, is Saint Pamphilus' Day, With Footnotes - #47

Saint Pamphilus, Martyr

Saint Pamphilus (latter half of the 3rd century – February 16, 309), was a presbyter of Caesarea and chief among biblical scholars of his generation. 

Pamphilus was of a rich and honorable family of Beirut, in which city, at that time famous for its schools. In his youth he ran through the whole circle of the sciences, and was afterward honored with the first employments of the magistracy. He gave all his property to the poor. Pamphilus went to Alexandria, Egypt, where his teacher was Pierius, the head of the famous catechetical, a school of Christian theologians and priests; before settling in Caesarea Maritima, where he was ordained a priest. 

Origen of Alexandria teaching

While in Alexandria Pamphilus became devoted to the works of Origen of Alexandria. Pamphilus also collected sacred literature.  The Saint established there also a public school of sacred literature, and to his labors the Church was indebted for a most correct edition of the Holy Bible. 

The Holy Martyrs Pamphilius the Presbyter, Valens the Deacon, Paul, Porphyrius, Seleucius, Theodulus, Julian, Samuel, Elias, Daniel, Jeremiah and Isaiah

On November, 307 Pamphilus was brought before the governor of Palestine, and upon refusing to offer sacrifice, was cruelly tortured, and then relegated to prison. In prison he continued copying and correcting manuscripts. St Pamphilus and other members of his household, along with Valens, deacon of the Church of Jerusalem and Paul of Jamnia, men "in the full vigour of mind and body", were without further torture sentenced to be beheaded in February, 309. More on Pamphilus of Caesarea

Holy Martyr Pamphilos of Caesarea

Thumbnail Minology Vasily II. Vatican Library. Rome.

Holy Martyr Pamphilos of Caesarea 

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06 Works, Today, February 15th, is Saints Jovita and Faustinus' Day, With Footnotes - 46

Vincenzo Foppa, (1427–1515)
Virgin Mary and Christ Child with Saints Jovita and Faustinus, c. 1476
Oil on canvas
Height: 238 cm (93.7″); Width: 212.5 cm (83.6″)
Tosio Martinengo Gallery Brescia, Lombardy, northern Italy

Saints Jovita and Faustinus depicted as two knightly brothers holding the palms of martyrdom. Sometimes only Jovita is shown, richly dressed and on horseback; an angel may be shown saving them from drowning; sometimes shown with Faustinus of Brescia

Brescia  is a city and comune in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy.

Vincenzo Foppa (c. 1427 – c. 1515) was an Italian painter from the Renaissance period. While few of his works survive, he was an esteemed and influential painter during his time and is considered the preeminent leader of the Early Lombard School. He spent his career working for the Sforza family, Dukes of Milan, in Pavia, as well as various other patrons throughout Lombardy and Liguria. He lived and worked in his native Brescia during his later years. More on Vincenzo Foppa

Saints Jovita and Faustinus were said to be Christian martyrs under Hadrian. Their traditional date of death is 120. They are patron saints of Brescia.

"Jovita" in modern times is a woman's name. In some accounts the saints were instead Jovinus and Faustinus, brothers.

Bartolomeo Roverio, il Genovesino

The Virgin with Saints Faustinus and Jovita and two donors

Oil on canvas

198 x 144.5 cm

Private collection

Marco or Bartolomeo Genovesini (active 1628) was an Italian painter or two brothers of the Roverio family who were painters, and active in the Augustinian Monastery and the Carthusian Monastery of Garignano in Milan

Tradition states that they were members of a noble family of Brescia in Lombardy (northern Italy). Jovinus, the older brother, was a preacher; Faustinus, a deacon. According to the tradition of Brescia, they preached Christianity fearlessly while their bishop lay in hiding. Their zeal excited the fury of the heathens against them, then they were arrested by a heathen lord called Julian.

They were commanded to adore the sun, but replied that they adored the living God who created the sun to give light to the world. The statue before which they were standing was brilliant and surrounded with golden rays. Saint Jovita, looking at it, cried out: “Yes, we adore the God reigning in heaven, who created the sun. And you, vain statue, turn black, to the shame of those who adore you!” At his word, it turned black. The Emperor commanded that it be cleaned, but the pagan priests had hardly begun to touch it when it fell into ashes.

The two brothers were sent to the amphitheater to be devoured by lions, but four of those came out and lay down at their feet. They were left without food in a dark jail cell, but Angels brought them strength and joy for new combats. The flames of a huge fire respected them, and a large number of spectators were converted at the sight. 

Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo,  (1727–1804)

Martyrdom of Saints Faustinus and Jovita, c. 1754

Medium fresco

330 cm (10.8 ft)

Church of Saints Faustinus and Jovita

Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo,  (1727–1804)

Detail, Martyrdom of Saints Faustinus and Jovita, c. 1754

Fresco

330 cm (10.8 ft)

Church of Saints Faustinus and Jovita

They were tortured and dragged to Milan, Rome and Naples, and then brought back to Brescia. As neither threats nor torments could shake their constancy, the Emperor Hadrian, who happened to be passing through Brescia, commended them to be beheaded.

Grazio Cossali, (1563–1629)

Appearance of Saints Faustinus and Jovita in the Defense of Brescia, c. 1603

Height: 398 cm (13 ft); Width: 238 cm (93.7 ″)

Church of Saints Faustinus and Jovita

Grazio Cossali, sometimes called Orazio Cossali (1563 – December 4, 1629) was an Italian painter who worked in Brescia, Cremona, and Venice, active during the Mannerist or early Baroque periods.

In the Brescian churches of Santa Maria delle Grazie and Santa Maria dei Miracoli are paintings of the Adoration of the Magi and the Presentation of Mary in the Temple. He also painted for the churches of San Lorenzo and San Francesco in Brescia. He painted a small Coronation of the Virgin (1590s) for the parish church of Quinzanello. He painted a canvas on the history of Carlo Borromeo for the church of the Madonna della Stella in Cellatica.

The town hall, or Palazzo Communale, of Cremona has one of his paintings, one depicting the Harvest of the Manna (1587) in the Council Chamber (or hall of the Paintings). His son Giacomo was also a painter. More on Grazio Cossali

In 1426 Brescia  became a possession of the Venetian Republic.  An episode which disturbed the four centuries of tranquillity was the terrible siege by the Visconti troops led by Nicolò Piccinino, which lasted from 1438 to 1440.  At first  forty bombards battered the walls for months then the final attack was launched, only to be repelled by a thousand Brescian foot-soldiers and  six hundred horse; according to tradition their victory was also owing to the miraculous apparition of the patron saints of the city -Faustino and Giovita. The saints appeared on the bastions of Roverotto to help the Brescians drive back the fifteen thousand Visconti soldiers. 

Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo,  (1727–1804)

Intervention of the patron saints in defense of Brescia besieged by Nicolò Piccinino, c. 1754 - 1755

Fresco

220 × 330 cm

Church of Saints Faustino and Giovita , Brescia

Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (August 30, 1727 – March 3, 1804) was an Italian painter and printmaker in etching. He was the son of artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo and elder brother of Lorenzo Baldissera Tiepolo. Domenico was born in Venice, studied under his father, and by the age of 13 was the chief assistant to him. He was one of the many assistants, including Lorenzo, who transferred the designs of his father (executed in the 'oil sketch' invented by the same). By the age of 20, he was producing his own work for commissioners.

Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo,  (1727–1804)

Detail, Intervention of the patron saints in defense of Brescia besieged by Nicolò Piccinino, c. 1754 - 1755

Fresco

220 × 330 cm

Church of Saints Faustino and Giovita , Brescia

His painting style developed after the death of his father in 1770, at which time he returned to Venice, and worked there as well as in Genoa and Padua. His painting, though keeping the decorative influence of his father, moved from its spatial fancy and began to take a more realistic depiction. His portraits and scenes of life in Venice are characterised by movement, colour, and deliberate composition. More on Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo

Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo,  (1727–1804)

Saints Faustinus and Jovita Appear in Defense of Brescia under Attack from Niccolò Piccinino in 1438, c. 1754 - 1755

Oil on canvas

cm 52 x 70

 Pinacoteca di Brera. Milano

The many "Acts" of these saints are chiefly of a legendary character. The Jesuit Fedele Savio questioned nearly every fact related of them except their existence of the martyrdom, which are too well attested by their inclusion in so many of the early martyrologies and their extraordinary cult in their native city, of which from time immemorial they have been the chief patrons.

Their common feast day on 15 February, the traditional date of their martyrdom, was inserted into the General Roman Calendar . It was removed in 1969, because their "Acts are completely fabulous, treating Jovita as a preacher, although she was a woman and a man was Faustinus." However modern minds tend to forget that the name Jovita or Giovita was a man's name in the pre-Christian and early Christian era The two saints remain listed in the Roman Martyrology. The cities of Rome, Bologna and Verona share with Brescia possession of their relics.

Modern tradition considers Faustine's day as the anti-Valentine's Day. This is why (mostly in southern Europe) single people celebrate on 15 February. More on Jovinus and Faustinus

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05 Works, February 14th, is Lupercalia/ Saint Valentine's Day, With Footnotes - #45

Maria Rachele Branca

Lupercus, Lupercus, the protector of the harvest and farmers

Mixed technique on canvas

80×60 cm

I have no further description, at this time

In a refined contrast with a material background, the delicate and idealized line of Maria Rachele Branca , which distinguishes her style in the lyricism of a mythologized folklore, suspends the scene in the allusion to the invasive sound of the flute which bewitches the nymph sitting on it next to. And precisely in underlining its predatory instinct, the canvas accentuates the potential for prosperity of LUPERCUS FAUNUS in a good omen invoked for the territory. More on this painting

Lupercalia was an ancient pastoral annual festival observed in the city of Rome between February 13 and February 15, to avert evil spirits and purify the city, releasing health and fertility.

At the Lupercal altar, a male goat and a dog were sacrificed by one or another of the Luperci, under the supervision of the Flamen dialis, Jupiter's chief priest, after which two of the Luperci were led to the altar, their foreheads were touched with a bloody knife, and the blood was wiped off with wool dipped in milk  Next the Luperci cut thongs from the flayed skin of the animal, and ran with these, naked or near-naked, in an anticlockwise direction around the hill. These gross whips were called, februare.

Maria Rachele «Since I was a child I had a passion for artistic expression which manifested itself with a particular talent in drawing. So when it came time to choose the address for high school I chose the Art Institute even if it meant taking the bus from Bagnoli every morning at dawn. I began to develop a bond with art, but I didn't think of myself as an artist, I felt a strong pleasure in entering the churches of my small town, studying its culture, learning the traditions of the area».

After the 1980 earthquake, she moved to Florence, where she chose to attend the Academy of Fine Arts, specializing in Sculpture: «I've always been fascinated by the idea of ​​plasticity, the possibility of creating works in the round, of manipulating materials to create what's in my head. Mine was a double path. If the Art Institute laid the foundations for a future as an artisan, allowing me to get to know the subject in depth, the Academy taught me to use ceramics for an artistic and not just functional use. So I began to do research thanks also to the teachings of Maestro Vincenzo Bianchi, a mentor in sculpture training». More on Maria Rachele

Baccafumi Dominico

Lupercalia

634 × 460

Museo Casa Martelli

Baccafumi Dominico

Lupercalia

Museo Casa Martelli

Domenico di Pace Beccafumi (1486 – May 18, 1551) was an Italian Renaissance-Mannerist painter active predominantly in Siena. He is considered one of the last undiluted representatives of the Sienese school of painting.

Domenico was born in Montaperti, near Siena, the son of Giacomo di Pace, a peasant who worked on the estate of Lorenzo Beccafumi. Seeing his talent for drawing, Lorenzo adopted him, and commended him to learn painting from Mechero, a lesser Sienese artist. In 1509 he traveled to Rome, where he learned from the artists who had just done their first work in the Vatican, but soon returned to Siena. In Siena, he painted religious pieces for churches and of mythological decorations for private patrons, only mildly influenced by the gestured Mannerist trends dominating the neighboring Florentine school. More on Domenico di Pace Beccafumi

Many of the noble youths and of the magistrates run up and down through the city naked, for sport and laughter striking those they meet with the shaggy thongs. And many women of rank also purposely get in their way, and like children at school present their hands to be struck. During Lupercalia, the men randomly chose a woman’s name from a jar to be coupled with them for the duration of the festival. Often, the couple stayed together until the following year’s festival. Many fell in love and married.

Andrea Camassei

Lupercalia, Ca. 1635. 

Oil on canvas

Height: 238 cm.; Width: 366 cm.

Museo Nacional del Prado

Andrea Camassei (November 1602 – 1649) was an Italian Baroque painter and engraver, who was mainly active in Rome under the patronage of the Barberini.

He was born in Bevagna in Umbria; and beame active in painting in the Palazzo Barberini as well as in Antonio Barberini's favored church, Santa Maria della Concezione, where he painted the Assumption of the Virgin on the dome. He painted a Triumph of Constantine for the Baptistery of the Lateran Palace, and painted for Taddeo Barberini, two large canvases (1638–39) depicting Massacre of the Niobids and Hunt of Diana. He also painted a Saints Bonaventura, Bernardino & Ludovico da Tolosa for Santa Caterina in Rapecchiano (Spello). More on Andrea Camassei

Lupercalia was also celebrated by the Christian populace on a regular basis into the reign of the emperor Anastasius. Pope Gelasius I (494–96) claimed that only the "vile rabble" were involved in the festival and sought its forceful abolition. Pope Gelasius I eliminated the pagan feast and declared February 14 a day to celebrate the martyrdom of Saint Valentine instead, although it’s highly unlikely he intended the day to commemorate love and passion.

Unknown iconographer

St. Valentine

Although the Roman Catholic Church continues to recognize St. Valentine as a saint of the church, he was removed from the General Roman Calendar in 1969 because of the lack of reliable information about him. He is the patron saint of lovers, epileptics, and beekeepers. More on St. Valentine

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I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

I do not sell art, art prints, framed posters or reproductions. Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses.

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03 Works, Today, February 13th, is Saint Catherine de' Ricci's Day, With Footnotes - 44

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo,  (1696–1770)

Saint Catherine of Siena, c. 1746

Oil on canvas

Oval: 70 x 52 cm

Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, 1696 - 1770. Born into a wealthy and noble family in Venice, Giambattista Tiepolo was recognized by contemporaries throughout Europe as the greatest painter of large-scale decorative frescoes in the 1700s. He was admired for having brought fresco painting to new heights of technical virtuosity, illumination, and dramatic effect. Tiepolo possessed an imagination characterized by one of his contemporaries as "all spirit and fire." 

A gifted storyteller, Tiepolo painted walls and ceilings with large, expansive scenes of intoxicating enchantment. In breath-taking visions of mythology and religion, the gods and saints inhabit light-filled skies. His ability to assimilate his predecessor and compatriot Paolo Veronese's use of color was so profound that his contemporaries named him Veronese redivio (a new Veronese). 

Tiepolo's commissions came from the old established families of Italy, religious orders, and the royal houses of Spain, Germany, Sweden, and Russia. His frescoes adorn palaces, churches, and villas, and his artistic legacy consists of some eight hundred paintings, 2,400 drawings, two sets of etchings, and acres of fresco. When Tiepolo died at the age of seventy-four, a Venetian diarist noted the "bitter loss" of "the most famous Venetian painter, truly the most renowned...well known in Europe and the most highly praised in his native land." More on Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

Saint Catherine de' Ricci, O.S.D. (Caterina de' Ricci) (23 April 1522 – 2 February 1590), was an Italian Dominican Tertiary sister. She is believed to have had miraculous visions and corporeal encounters with Jesus, both with the infant Jesus and with the adult Jesus. She is said to have spontaneously bled with the wounds of the crucified Christ. She is venerated for her mystic visions and is honored as a saint by the Catholic Church.

She was born Alessandra Lucrezia Romola de' Ricci in Florence to a patrician family. At age 6 or 7, her father enrolled her in a school run by a monastery of Benedictine nuns in the Monticelli quarter of the city. There she developed a lifelong devotion to the Passion of Christ. She then entered the Convent of St Vincent in Prato, Tuscany, a cloistered community of religious sisters who followed the strict regimen of life she desired. In May 1535 she received the religious habit, and the religious name of Catherine, after the Dominican tertiary, Catherine of Siena.

Her period of novitiate was a time of trial. She would experience ecstasies during her routine, which caused her to seem asleep during community prayer services, dropping plates and food, so much so that the community began to question her competence, if not her sanity. Eventually the other Sisters became aware of the spiritual basis for her behavior. By the age of 30 she had risen to the post of prioress.

As the prioress, De' Ricci developed into an effective and greatly admired administrator. She was an advisor on various topics to princes, bishops and cardinals. An expert on religion, management and administration, her advice was widely sought. She gave counsel both in person and through exchanging letters. It is reported that she was extremely effective and efficient in her work, managing her priorities very well.

Pierre Subleyras

The Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine of Ricci, c. 1740-1745

Oil on canvas

Private collection

Pierre Subleyras (November 25, 1699 – May 28, 1749) was a French painter, active during the late-Baroque and early-Neoclassic period, mainly in Italy.

He left France in 1728, having carried off the French Academy's grand prix, which provided scholarship for study in Rome. In Rome, he painted for the Elector of Saxony, Frederick Christian, a "Christ's Visit to the House of Simon the Pharisee", this work procured his admission into the famed Roman artists guild, Accademia di San Luca.

Cardinal Valenti Gonzaga next obtained for him the order for Saint Basil & Emperor Valens (also known as the Mass of St. Basil.

He was a remarkably incisive portraitist. The pope himself commanded two great paintings, the "Marriage of St Catherine" and the "Ecstasy of St Camilla", which he placed in his own private apartments.

Subleyras shows greater individuality in his curious genre pictures, which he produced in considerable number. In his illustrations of La Fontaine and Boccaccio his true relation to the modern era comes out; and his drawings from nature are often admirable.

Exhausted by overwork, Subleyras tried a change to Naples, but returned to Rome at the end of a few months to die. More on Pierre Subleyras

It is claimed that De' Ricci's meditation on the Passion of Christ was so deep that she spontaneously bled, as if scourged. She also bore the Stigmata. During times of deep prayer, like Catherine of Siena, her patron saint, a coral ring representing her marriage to Christ, appeared on her finger.

BATONI, Pompeo, (b. 1708, Lucca, d. 1787, Roma)

The Ecstasy of St Catherine of Siena, c. 1743

Oil on canvas

Museo di Villa Guinigi, Lucca

Pompeo Girolamo Batoni (25 January 1708 – 4 February 1787) Pompeo Batoni was born in Lucca. He moved to Rome in 1727, and apprenticed with Agostino Masucci, Sebastiano Conca and/or Francesco Imperiali. He displayed a solid technical knowledge in his portrait work and in his numerous allegorical and mythological pictures. Batoni won international fame largely thanks to his customers, mostly British of noble origin, whom he portrayed, often with famous Italian landscapes in the background. 

In addition to art-loving nobility, Batoni's subjects included the kings and queens of Poland, Portugal and Prussia, the Holy Roman Emperors Joseph II and Leopold II (a fact which earned him noble dignity), as well the popes Benedict XIV, Clement XIII and Pius VI, Elector Karl Theodor of Bavaria and many more. He also received numerous orders for altarpieces for churches in Italy (Rome, Brescia, Lucca, Parma, etc.), as well as for mythological and allegorical subjects.

Batoni's style took inspiration and incorporated elements of classical antiquity, French Rococo, Bolognese classicism, and the work of artists such as Nicolas Poussin, Claude Lorrain and especially Raphael. As such Pompeo Batoni is considered a precursor of Neoclassicism. More on Pompeo Girolamo Batoni 

One of the miracles that was documented for her canonization was her appearance many hundreds of miles away from where she was physically located. This involved appearing in a vision St Philip Neri, a resident of Rome, with whom she had maintained a long-term correspondence. 

De' Ricci lived in the convent until her death in 1590 after a prolonged illness. More on Saint Catherine de' Ricci

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