Giovanni Balducci (1560–1631)

• Also called Il Cosci after his maternal uncle.
• Was an Italian mannerist painter.
• Born in Florence.

• Balducci was trained by Giovanni Battista Naldini.

• Under the supervision of Vasari, he worked as an assistant to Federico Zuccari in the fresco painting of the Final Judgment, on the inside of the Brunelleschi dome of the Duomo in Florence.

• He also frescoed a Last Supper in the church. 

• From 1577-1580, he aided Naldini in the fresco decoration of the Altoviti Chapel in the church of Trinità dei Monti in Rome.

• He returned to Florence, to assist Alessandro Allori in the decoration of Vasari's Gallery for the Uffizi.

• From 1590-1591, he worked with Naldini in the decoration of Volterra Cathedral.

• By 1600, Balducci had moved to Naples.

• In 1609 he painted the Pardon of Carlo Gesualdo, now in the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Gesualdo in the province of Avellino.

• Balducci also continued to work in fresco, painting in the cloister of Santa Maria del Carmine and on the ceilings of the church of the Annunziata in Maddaloni, in Campania. 

• He died in Naples. 

• Balducci has paintings in public collections including two in the United Kingdom.

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