Carlo Cignani Artwork valuations, appraisals and auction estimates

Carlo Cignani (Bologna, 15 May 1628 – Forlì, 6 September 1719) was an Italian painter, considered the greatest Bolognese painter who died in the 18th century. Art historians credit Cignani with having led a change in style and taste that occurred around 1670 within the Bolognese school, which allowed painters to distance themselves from the influences of the Renian tradition and bring them closer to the academic spirit. Read the full biography

Carlo Cignani (Bologna, 15 May 1628 – Forlì, 6 September 1719) was an Italian painter, considered the greatest Bolognese painter who died in the 18th century. Art historians credit Cignani with having led a change in style and taste that occurred around 1670 within the Bolognese school, which allowed painters to distance themselves from the influences of the Renian tradition and bring them closer to the academic spirit. Trained with Giovanni Battista del Cairo and Francesco Albani, he was strongly influenced by Annibale Carracci, Correggio and, due to the perspective from below as well as the use of colour, the works of Melozzo da Forlì. Cignani, therefore, also inserted himself into the tradition of the Forlì school, to whose development he contributed with his own work. After his youthful works in Bologna, which were highly baroque, he worked in Rome from 1662 where he was prince of the Accademia di San Luca in 1710. From 1665 he was active again in Bologna, then in Parma (1678-1681).