The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Maratti, Carlo

MARATTI, Carlo, an Italian painter, born near Ancona in 1625, died in Rome, Dec. 15, 1713. At about the age of 12 he was sent to Rome and put under the instruction of Andrea Sacchi, with whom he remained eight years. He became a student of the works of Raphael, and his contemporaries, supposing that he could only paint madonnas, called him Carluccio delle Madonne; but he silenced their sneers by executing for the baptistery of St. John Lateran a picture of Constantine destroying the idols, which caused him to rank among the first painters of the day. He restored the frescoes of Raphael in the Vatican, and those of Annibale Carracci in the Farnese palace. His masterpiece is the “Martyrdom of St. Biagio” at Genoa. He also executed several etchings from his own designs and from Italian masters.