Francesco Albani

Francesco Albani
Self-portrait, c. 1635, Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna
Born17 March or 17 August 1578
Bologna, Romagna, Papal States (modern Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy)
Died4 October 1660(1660-10-04) (aged 82)
Bologna, Romagna, Papal States (modern Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy)
EducationLudovico Carracci
OccupationPainter
Notable workNativity of the Virgin (c. 1598)
MovementBaroque
PatronsVincenzo Giustiniani
Signature

Francesco Albani or Albano (17 March or 17 August 1578 – 4 October 1660) was an Italian Baroque painter of Albanian descent who was active in Bologna (1591–1600; 1609; 1610; 1618–1622), Rome (1600–1609; 1610–1617; 1623–1625), Viterbo (1609–1610), Mantua (1621–1622) and Florence (1633). He was a distinguished artist of the Bolognese school, deeply influenced by Annibale Carracci’s classicism. His fame rests on his idyllic landscapes and small mythological pictures, the lyrical qualities of which earned him the soubriquet ‘the Anacreon of painters’.