Agostino Tassi - Career

Career

Tassi may have worked for a time in Livorno, as well as in Florence. During his sojourn in Florence it is believed that was he was made a galley slave in the Grand Duke's convict galleys for some unspecified crime. However, he was allowed to move about freely on the ship instead of pulling on an oar. More importantly, he was able to paint and draw on the galley, and was thus provided with ample material from which to execute his seascapes and images of ports, ships, and fishing scenes.

Regarding his artistic formation, Tassi is said to have been a pupil of Paul Bril, from whom he derived some of his images of the sea. He later worked in Rome with Orazio Gentileschi, who painted figures, after being commissioned by Pope Paul V.

Considered a master of perspective and a good painter of illusionistic architectural decoration, Tassi painted in several Roman palaces including the Quirinale (1611‑12), the Rospigliosi and the Doria Pamphili (1635).

In Rome, Tassi also served as the master (from April 1625) of French painter Claude Lorrain. Tassi hired Lorrain to grind his colors and to do all of the household work.

Though better known as a painter of frescoes, Tassi also painted some canvases, which include Arrival of the Queen of Sheba before Solomon (c. 1610) and Entry of Taddeo Barberini from the Porta del Popolo (1632). He influenced Leonaert Bramer.

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