Mario Balassi

Portrait of Vittoria della Rovere as Saint Vittoria by Mario Balassi

Mario Balassi (1604–1667) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active in Florence and Rome.

Virgin appears to Phillip Neri

He began training with Jacopo Ligozzi, then with Matteo Rosselli,^[1] and finally with Domenico Passignano who he accompanied him to Rome to work under the papacy of Pope Urban VIII Here he was patronized by Ottavio Piccolomini and accompanied him to Vienna, where he painted a portrait of the Emperor Ferdinand III. He was commissioned by Taddeo Barberini to paint a Transfiguration (copy of Raphael) now found in the church of the Cappuccini of Rome. Returning to Florence, he painted a St. Francis for the Compagnia delle Stimmate. He also painted a Noli me tangere for the convent of the Maddalena. On his return to Italy he worked in Prato, Florence, and Empoli. For the church of Sant' Agostino, in Prato, he painted a picture of St. Nicholas of Tolentino, and for the Society of the Stigmata in Florence, a St. Francis. In the Vienna Gallery there is a Madonna and Child painted on stone. Among his pupils was Andrea Scacciati.

References

1. S. Ticozzi p. 98.

• Ticozzi, Stefano (1830). Dizionario degli architetti, scultori, pittori, intagliatori in rame ed in pietra, coniatori di medaglie, musaicisti, niellatori, intarsiatori d’ogni etá e d’ogni nazione' (Volume 1). Gaetano Schiepatti; Digitized by Googlebooks, Jan 24, 2007. p. 98.
• Bryan, Michael (1886). Robert Edmund Graves, ed. Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, Biographical and Critical (Volume I: A-K). York St. #4, Covent Garden, London; Original from Fogg Library, Digitized May 18, 2007: George Bell and Sons. p. 70.