Paggi, Giovanni Battista

Paggi, Giovanni Battista a noted Italian painter, was born of an ancient and noble family at Genoa in 1554. He was the pupil of Luca Cambiaso, and was distinguished chiefly as a painter, though he attained to distinction also as a sculptor and architect. About 1580 he was obliged to flee from Genoa in consequence of an unfortunate homicide which the absurd conduct of a friend brought upon him. Paggi went to Florence, and, under the protection of the grand-dukes Francesco I and Ferdinando, lived there in peace and with reputation. He was recalled through archbishop Sinnasio, afterwards cardinal, to Genoa about 1600, where he executed several excellent works, and gave a great impulse, especially in coloring, to the Genoese school of painting, of which he was the best master in his time. Paggi died in 1627. His masterpieces are two pictures in San Bartolomeo, and the Slaughter of the Innocents, belonging to the Doria family, painted in 1606. In 1607 he published a. short treatise on the theory of painting.