Giovanni Battista Carlone

Who was Giovanni Battista Carlone?

Giovanni Battista Carlone was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in Genoa.

Carlone was born and died in Genoa. He came from a family of artists: his father Taddeo was a sculptor and his older brother Giovanni Bernardo Carlone, a well-trained painter. He may have had some training under Domenico Passignano. He was remarkably prolific both in terms of offspring and paintings and frescoes; and likely these two facts were not independent, since the sheer output strongly suggests the hands of many in his paintings. His paintings throng local churches; for example, the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata del Vastato alone contains nearly 20 canvases and frescoes. However his prolixity also diluted the force of individuality in the paintings which, in style, seem to occupy an imprecise provincial talent between Mannerism and Baroque. His son, Andrea Carlone was a painter.

In the middle and principal nave of the Vastato, he has represented the Adoration of the Magi; the Entrance of Christ into Jerusalem; the Resurrection; the Ascension ; the Descent of the Holy Ghost; and the Assumption of the Virgin '.