Francesco Gessi

Francesco Gessi (20 January 1588 – 1649) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in Bologna.

Born to a noble family, his father noticed his attraction to the arts and placed him in the apprenticeship with Denys Calvaert.

From there, he obtained commissions to fresco in Ravenna, Mantua, and also the Capella del Tesoro in the Naples Cathedral.

Gessi took up the work, but two of his pupils, Lorenzo Menini and Giovanni Battista Ruggieri, disappeared.

Gessi ultimately desisted from attempting to complete the latter in the dangerously competitive art world of Naples.