Niccolò Berrettoni

As a child he studied under Simone Cantarini in Pesaro; at the death of this master, he moved circa 1670 to Rome to work for the large studio of Carlo Maratta.

In 1675, while still in the orbit of Carlo Maratta, he entered as an academic into the Roman painter's guild, the Accademia di San Luca.

Under the patronage of Maratta, he obtained important commissions; however, in the last years of his life, his relationship with this master altered.

According to Pascoli, in 1680 when Berrettoni was about to receive the commission of the ceiling fresco of the nave of San Silvestro in Capite, Maratta, fearing the rising fame of his pupil, caused the commission to be assigned instead to the older Giacinto Brandi.

[1] Some of Berrettoni's painting executed for aristocratic clients, including the Flight to Egypt (mentioned in an estimate of 1724 and cited by Pascoli) are missing.

The Holy Family and Saint Ann , Reading a Psalm by Niccolò Berrettoni, Museum Kunstpalast , 1679