Massimo Stanzione

Who was Massimo Stanzione?

Massimo Stanzione was an Italian Baroque painter, mainly active in Naples.

Born a Frattamaggiore in 1585, Massimo was greatly influenced by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. The thing that distinguished Massimo’s art from Carravaggism was that he combined Caravaggio’s dramatically lit and brutally realistic style with the classical and lyrical manner of Bolognesi painters, earning him the nickname of the Napolitan Guido Reni.

Though his preliminary training is uncertain, it is thought that he studied with Fabrizio Santafede and Battistello Caracciolo; however, most of the influence he received was from Caravaggio. Art historians believe that Stanzione developed his career as an artist in Rome. It is thought that he began his career as a portraitist. Some of his most famous works include Portrait of a Woman in Popular Costume, and Portrait of Jerome Banks.

His first trip to Rome was in 1617 to 1618, where he worked in Santa Maria della Scala, where traces of his work remain. He returned to the Eternal City several times between 1620 and about 1630. In Rome he underwent the influence of Annibale Carracci and of the revamped Caravaggism of Simon Vouet, among others. In 1621, pope Gregory XV awarded him the title of Knight of the Golden Spur and in 1627, he received the title of Knight of Saint George and Urban VIII invested him with the Order of Christ which, in Spain, gave him the title Caballero Máximo.