Camillo Procaccini

Who was Camillo Procaccini?

Camillo Procaccini was an Italian painter. He has been posthumously referred to as the Vasari of Lombardy, for his prolific Mannerist fresco decoration.

Born in Bologna, he was the son of the painter Ercole Procaccini the Elder, and older brother to Giulio Cesare and Carlo Antonio, both painters.

In 1587 he distinguished in the fresco decoration of the Basilica della Ghiara in Reggio Emilia. In the late 1580s he moved to Milan, where count Camillo Visconti Borromeo commissioned him the decoration of his villa in Lainate. The organ shutters for the Cathedral of Milan were painted after 1590 by Camillo, Giuseppe Meda, and Ambrogio Figino. His other works of note include the frescoes of the nave and the apse of the Cathedral of Piacenza in collaboration with Ludovico Carracci, and the vault and choir in Santi Paolo e Barnaba of Milan. He also painted a Nativity in the Sacro Monte d'Orta. Among his pupils is Carlo Biffi.

Among his many other works are a Martyrdom of St. Agnes painted in fresco in the sacristy of Milan cathedral; a Madonna and Child painted for the church of Santa Maria del Carmine; an 'Adoration of the Shepherds found in the Brera; and the ceiling of the church of Padri Zoccolanti, representing the Assumption of the Virgin. —all in the same city. He also frescoed a large Last Judgment in the apse of the church of San Prospero at Reggio; He painted a St. Roch administering the Sacrament to the Plague-stricken.