Pellegrino Tibaldi

Known also as Pellegrino da Bologna and as Pellegrino Pellegrini, decorator, mural painter, and architect, b. at Bologna, 1527; d. at Milan about 1592. Tibaldi was a pupil of Bagna Cavello, and a profound student of the works of Michelangelo. His early decorative works were executed for Cardinal Poggi, for whom he carried out a large number of commissions, in his palace at Bologna, the chapel he erected in Loretto, his rooms in Rome, and a chapel in the Church of San Giacomo in Bologna. In 1586 he went to Spain on the invitation of Philip II, and painted in the lower cloisters of the Escorial, after first erasing the work of his predecessors, with which he professed to be much dissatisfied. His greatest work was the decoration of the library in that building. He resided for nine years in Spain, returned to Italy, settled at Milan, was appointed architect of the cathedral, and died in that place. His works can be studied in Bologna and Dresden.

LANZI, Storia Pittorica della Italia (Bassano. 1809); MALVASIA, Felsina Pittrice (Bologna, 1841).

G.C. WILLIAMSON