Born 1566 (according to R. Möller about 1568) in Rome, died there 1644. He worked mainly in his native city, where many of the paintings which he produced for smaller, but also for larger churches have survived, among other also in Santa Maria Maggiore and San Pietro in the Vatican. He was principe of the Accademia di San Luca several times. Pope Paul V conferred a knighthood on him. Baglione also worked for the Dukes of Mantua, for the French court and for various clients in numerous Italian cities. His style, which at first owed much to late Roman Mannerism, was later greatly influenced by Caravaggio. Baglione quarrelled violently with Caravaggio and the conflict came to a head in 1603 with the well-known verdict. Later Baglione’s work shows the influence of Caravaggio’s imitators, but also of Cigoli and Guido Reni. Baglione is also known as an art historian; he wrote Vite dei Pittori, Scultori, Architetti... which appeared in Rome in 1642; these biographies of artists are one of the main sources for the study of painting in Rome at the end of the 16th and in the first four decades of the 17th century.
Lit.: Seicento, Vol. I-II, Milano 1989 (biogr. Gianni Papi); Renate Möller: Der römische Maler Giovanni Baglione: Leben und Werk unter besonderer Berücksichtigung seiners stilgeschichtlichen Srellung zwischen Manierismus und Barock, Tuduv. Studien, Kunstgeschichte, Vol. 41, München 1991.