Carlo Maratti (1625-1713)

Maratti was the leading painter in Rome in the latter part of the seventeenth century. He was a pupil of Andrea Sacchi and he continued the tradition of the classical Grand Manner, based on Raphael. He also gained an international reputation for his paintings of the Madonna and Child, which are reworkings of types established during the High Renaissance.

Maratti was an accomplished fresco painter, and the finest portraitist of the day in Rome. He had a large studio, but after his death his reputation suffered because many works by his pupils and copiers were confused with his. Maratti restored Raphael's frescoes in the Vatican and was appointed curator of the Vatican paintings.