Pasqualini (or Pascalini), Giovanni Battista

Pasqualini (Or Pascalini), Giovanni Battista an Italian painter and engraver, was born at Gento, near Bologna, in the latter part of the 16th century. His earliest print is dated 1619, and the latest 1630. He studied painting under Ciro Ferri, but does not seem to have acquired much eminence in that art. He executed many etchings, mostly after Guercino, in which he endeavored to imitate with the point the masterly pen-drawings of that master, but he did not possess a sufficient command of his instrument to accomplish it with much success. He frequently signed his plates J. B. Centensis. Nagler gives a list of forty prints by him, of which the following are of interest to us: Christ dictating the Gospel to St. John; the Resurrection of Lazarus; Christ giving the Keys to St. Peter; Christ taken in the Garden; Angels showing Mary Magdalene the Instruments of the Passion; Christ with the Disciples at Emmaus; the Incredulity of Thomas; the Virgin and Infant, with an Angel presenting Fruit; the Virgin and Infant, to whom St. John presents an Apple; St. Charles Borromeo; St. Felix resuscitating a Dead Child. All these are after Guercino. Besides, Pasqualini elaborated St. Felix kneeling before the Virgin and Infant, after L. Caracci; St. Diego working a Miracle, after Ann. Caracci; the Death of St. Cecilia, after Domenichino.