\paperw19995 \margr0\margl0 \plain \fs20 14595 \f1 Italian painter.\par
Maratta entered Andrea SacchiÆs studio in Rome when he was barely eleven years old, and remained in th
at city for the rest of his life, leaving only to make two journeys back to the Marche (1648-50 and 1672). His patron, art theorist Giovan Battista Bellori, procured his first commissions and was also his biographer. The first work cited by Bellori is th
e \i CrΦche\i0 in the Roman church of San Giuseppe dei Falegnami, which dates from 1650, but it is certain that Maratta had already painted the altarpiece in Monterotondo Cathedral and worked at Nocera Umbra. In 1655 he began work on the series of \i Ap
ostles\i0 for Cardinal Antonio Barberini and shortly afterward he was commissioned by Pope Alexander VI to paint the fresco of the \i Adoration of the Shepherds\i0 (1657) for the gallery of the Quirinal and a number of canvases for Siena Cathedral, whi
ch established his reputation in Roman circles. After the death of Pietro da Cortona, Maratta took a leading role in the Roman art world, becoming principal of the Accademia di San Luca in 1664-65, a post to which he was appointed for life in 1698, and b
eing made ôpainter to the kingö by Louis XIV. Finally, in 1704, he was made a knight of the Order of Christ. Among the numerous public works that he was commissioned to paint, the altarpieces in the Chiesa Nuova (1675), Santa Maria sopra Minerva (1676),
Santa Maria del Popolo (1689) and San Carlo al Corso (1685-1690) stand out. In addition to these religious works, Maratta was also comissioned to create numerous paintings with mythological subjects and was also one of the greatest Italian portraitists o
f the seventeenth century. The artist also did some interesting work in the field of restoration, especially in the Vatican Stanze, the Farnesina and the Farnese Gallery. Throughout his long life, he maintained excellent relations with the papal court an
d continued to produce works for European clients, with the aid of a large number of assistants.
