Pier Lorenzo Spoleti

Who was Pier Lorenzo Spoleti?

Pier Lorenzo Spoleti was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in his natal city of Genoa.

Born and died in Finale Ligure in Italy. Spoleti's parents died when he was young and he went to live with an aunt, who seeing his inclination to paintings sent him to apprentice with Domenico Piola at the age of 15 years. He returned to hometown after a few years, where he married, then traveled to Cadiz, Spain, to look for employment, leaving his wife behind in Finale Ligure. From Cadiz, he followed a patron who had been reassigned to Madrid, soon he traveled to Lisbon where he worked for four years, then back to Genoa.

In Genoa, his former master, Piola, was impressed with his skills. He was known for portrait painting and made reproductions of master paintings by Titian and others he had seen in Madrid. For the parish church of Finale he painted copies of major canvases for the chorus. His major pupils were Giuseppe Folco, Giuseppe Piuma, and Giacomo Grana.