Giovanni Battista Paggi (1554–1627)

• Was an Italian painter.

• He was born in Genoa to Pellegro Paggi, a wealthy merchant.

• Following the murder of a friend, he was banished from Genoa in 1579, at the age of twenty-five, to take refuge in Aulla sul Magra, then in Pisa, where he executed works for the princess of Piombino, and then in Florence.

• Among the first important commissions of the Florentine period were the fresco with a Miracle of St. Catherine of Siena for the large cloister of Santa Maria Novella and the Return of the Holy Family from Egypt (Florence, Palazzo Pitti).

• Having obtained the pardon, he returned permanently to Genoa in 1599.

• Among his most important commissions, Transito di s. Chiara (Genoa, church of Ss. Annunziata del Vastato, the Madonna and Child between s. Giovannino and s. Giorgio (Genoa, Palazzo S. Giorgio), Madonna del Rosario (Genoa, Accademia ligustica).

• Among his most illustrious pupils were Sinibaldo Scorza, Domenico Fiasella and Castellino Castello.

• His hometown named a street in the San Fruttuoso district after him.

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