Samacchini, Orazio

Samacchini trained under Pellegrino Tibaldi (1527-1596), but his early work was influenced primarily by such artists as Raphael (1483-1520) and Prospero Fontana (1512-1597), as is detectable in the Marriage of the Virgin (c. 1555-1560) for S. Giuseppe in Bologna. In 1563 he worked in the Vatican, participating in the decoration of the Sala Regia and the Belvedere. This experience of Rome exposed Samacchini to other influences, most particularly to that of Michelangelo (1475-1564), as seen in the Crucifixion (1568) for S. Maria dei Servi in Bologna, and the frescoes executed in Parma cathedral (1570-1577). Later in life, his work was to reflect the various influences of Federico Zuccaro (1540/41-1609), Vasari (1511-1574), Parmigianino (1503-1540) and Correggio (c.1489-1534). However, only in his last altarpiece -the Virgin and Child with Saints (1576-1577) for S. Maria Maggiore in Bologna- did he succeed in integrating these sources in a convincing way (Turner, N.: From Michelangelo to Annibale Carracci. A century of Italian drawings from the Prado, Art Services International-Museo Nacional del Prado, 2008, p. 122).