Massimo Stanzione

He had many pupils and followers as his rich color and idealized naturalism had a large influence on other local artists, such as Francesco Solimena.

[2] Born in Frattamaggiore or Orta di Atella it is thought that he studied with Fabrizio Santafede and Battistello Caracciolo.

Stanizione's rich color and idealized naturalism had a large influence on other local artists, such as Francesco Solimena.

Many of these artistic commissions were sought after by the Spanish Viceroys who maintained positions of political power in Naples at this time.

There is no written proof to substantiate this hypothesis because the fact remains that Stanzione had a tremendous amount of interaction with other colorists throughout this time and also he was already established artistically in Rome by 1617 when he was working with Saraceni and Gerard van Honthorst at the Santa Maria della Scala, one of the first hospitals in Europe.

Gentileschi and Stanzioni collaborated on certain works such as Birth of St. John the Baptist for Philip IV’s Buen Retiro Palace.

What distinguished Massimo’s art from that of Caravaggio's was that he combined the latter's dramatically lit and brutally realistic style with the classical and lyrical manner of Bolognesi painters, such as in his 1638 Naples Pietà, earning him the nickname of the Napolitan Guido Reni.