Paolini, Pietro

Paolini, Pietro an Italian painter, was born at Liicca in 1603. He went early to Rome, where he entered the school of Angelo Caroselli. Under him Paolini acquired a manner that shows correct drawing, and a style of coloring more resembling that of the Venetian than the Roman school, uniting the richness and harmony of Titian and Pordenone. Lanzi says his Martyrdom of St. Andrew, in the church of S. Michele at Lucca, and the grand picture, sixteen cubits long, in the library of S. Frediano, would alone be sutfficient to immortalize this painter. The latter work represents the pontiff St. Gregory entertaining some Pilgrims. It is a magnificent picture, ornamented in the style of Veronese, with a grand architectural perspective, full of figures, and possessing a variety, harmony, and beauty that have induced many to extol it. He also excelled in cabinet pictures of conversations and rural festivals, which are numerous at Lucca. Baldinucci especially commends two pictures of the Massacre of Valdestain, in the possession of the Oresetti family, and remarks that he had a peculiar talent for tragic themes. He was accused of being too energetic, and censured for making the action of his females too strong. To prove the contrary, and to show that he pursued his method from choice, and that he was not inferior to his rival Biancucci in his own' style, he painted his large work in the church of the Trinity in the graceful style.