Giovanni Francesco Guerrieri (1589-1655/59) Biography
Giovanni Francesco Guerrieri, also known as Giovan Francesco Guerrieri da Fossombrone, was an Italian painter born in Fossombrone in 1589 and died in Pesaro on 3 September 1657. He was an important figure in seventeenth-century Marche painting, with a style often compared to that of Caravaggio, who influenced him during his training period in Rome.
In 1602, commissioned by the city council, he created his first works in Mombaroccio, namely a lost banner and a canvas depicting a Madonna with Child still preserved today in the castle's Town Hall.
From 1611 to 1618 Guerrieri stayed in Rome, where he was able to form his style and get closer to Caravaggio's experiences. He returned briefly to Fossombrone in 1614 to create the canvases for the Chapel of San Nicola di Tolentino in the church of Santa Maria del Ponte in Sassoferrato, before returning to Rome and decorating some rooms of Palazzo Borghese. He returned definitively to Fossombrone after finishing the works for the Borghese family, earning the nickname of parish painter.
In the 1630s he received the commission for the altarpiece of the main altar of the church of San Filippo in Fossombrone, while in the 1630s he was called to decorate the chapel of San Carlo Borromeo in the church of San Pietro in Valle on behalf of the Petrucci family from Fano -Bloodman. Guerrieri was also Elder in the municipal council of Fossombrone on several occasions, like his father, in 1627 and 1651.
Guerrieri's works are preserved in museums, art galleries and churches in the province of Pesaro and Urbino. In particular, in the Molinari Pradelli collection in Bologna there is one of his still lifes of flowers and vegetables.
