Francesco del Cairo (1607 – 1665)

• Was an Italian Baroque painter.
• Del Cairo was active in Lombardy and Piedmont.
• He was born and died in Milan. • In 1633, Cairo moved to Turin to work as a court painter.
• Between 1637–1638, Cairo travelled to Rome, where he encounters the works of Pietro da Cortona, Guido Reni and of the Caravaggisti.
• He returns to Lombardy to complete altarpieces for the Certosa of Pavia and a church at Casalpusterlengo.
• He is also known as Il Cavalière del Cairo, because in Turin, he received the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus in recognition of his merit.
• Many of his works are eccentric depictions of religious ecstasies; the saints appear liquefied and contorted by piety.
• Pietro Scalvini was among his pupils.
• The displayed painting is a crop from: Francesco del Cairo, Herodias, before 1635.
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