Bartolomeo Guidobono, Detto Il Prete Di Savona Biography
Bartolomeo Guidobono was an Italian painter, also known as "The Priest of Savona" or "Prete Bartolomeo da Savona". He was born in Savona in 1654, to a family of ceramists. His father, Giovanni Antonio, was ordained a priest at the Savoy court in 1679, from which Bartolomeo obtained his nicknames.
During his training, Bartolomeo attended Genoa's painting schools and artists' workshops, learning styles and techniques that refined his art. His first famous painting was a fresco in the Crocetta chapel, near the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Mercy. Subsequently, he moved to Parma, where he met Parmigianino and Correggio, and to Venice, where he frescoed the second floor of the Palazzo Rosso.
In 1685 he moved to Turin, where he created paintings for the abbey church of Santa Maria di Casanova and for the Royal Palace, including the "Stories of Savoy". In 1689-1690, he returned to Genoa, where he painted the vault frescoes of the Gallery of Palazzo Centurione and works such as the "Fucina di Vulcano" and the "Historia di Daniello" at the Palazzo Rosso. Some of his most famous works in this period were "Le anime purganti" (1697-1698) for the church of San Giovanni Decollato in Montoggio and "Circumcisione" (1699) for the church of San Giorgio in Moneglia.
Guidobono died in Turin in 1709, after having carried out several commissions for the Savoy court, including works for the Royal Palace, the convent of San Francesco da Paola and the dome of the church of Nostra Signora del Pilone.
