1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Grimaldi, Giovanni Francesco

GRIMALDI, GIOVANNI FRANCESCO (1606–1680), Italian architect and painter, named Il Bolognese from the place of his birth, was a relative of the Caracci family, under whom it is presumed he studied first. He was afterwards a pupil of Albani. He went to Rome, and was appointed architect to Pope Paul V., and was also patronized by succeeding popes. Towards 1648 he was invited to France by Cardinal Mazarin, and for about two years was employed in buildings for that minister and for Louis XIV., and in fresco-painting in the Louvre. His colour was strong, somewhat excessive in the use of green; his touch light. He painted history, portraits and landscapes—the last with predilection, especially in his advanced years—and executed engravings and etchings from his own landscapes and from those of Titian and the Caracci. Returning to Rome, he was made president of the Academy of St Luke; and in that city he died on the 28th of November 1680, in high repute not only for his artistic skill but for his upright and charitable deeds. His son Alessandro assisted him both in painting and in engraving. Paintings by Grimaldi are preserved in the Quirinal and Vatican palaces, and in the church of S. Martino a’Monti; there is also a series of his landscapes in the Colonna Gallery.