Parolini, Giacomo

Parolini, Giacomo an Italian painter, was born at Ferrara. According to Baruffaldi, who wrote his life, his father died when he was five years old, and his maternal uncle took him under his protection, and, perceiving in him a genius for painting, placed him with the cavalier Peruzzini at Turin, with whom he remained until he was eighteen, when he entered the school of Carlo Cignani. On his return to Ferrara Parolini finished some pictures left incomplete at the death of Maurelio Scannavini; who had been his fellow-student under Cignani. He did this out of regard to his friend, for the relief of his orphaned family. He executed many works for the churches, and a multitude for the collections. Though inferior to Cignani in the grandeur of his conceptions and the masterly style of his chiaroscuro, he yet sustained the credit of his school by the elegance of his design and the suavity of his coloring, particularly in his flesh tints, in which he excelled, and for which reason he was fond of introducing into his compositions the naked figure. He was unusually successful in the design of his female figures, children, and cherubs. Lanzi says his pictures of Bacchanals, festive dances, and Capricci partake much of the playful and elegant style of Albano, and are found in almost every collection at Ferrara. His principal works for the churches are three altar-pieces in the cathedral, and a grand fresco, representing St. Sebastian mounting into glory amid a group of angels, in the church of that saint at Verona. Lanzi pronounces this work a grand production, well executed which greatly raised his reputation. He died in 1733, and "with him," says Lanzi "was buried for a season the reputation of the Ferrarese school in Italy." Zani, differing from all others, calls him Giacomo Filippo, and says he was born in 1667 and died in 1737.