Antonio Vassilacchi (1556–1629)

• Greek: Αντώνιος Βασιλάκης, romanized: Antonios Vasilakis; also called L'Aliense.
• Was a Greek painter.
• He was born of Greek descent on the island of Milos, Greece.
• He left very young to settle in Venice.
• In 1572 Vassilacchi became a pupil of Paolo Veronese.
• His opportunity came with the great conflagration that nearly devoured the Doge's Palace in Venice in December 1577.
• Aliense, a compatriot and just a little younger than El Greco, was one of the painters commissioned to decorate the restored Palace. 

• Vassilacchi became a member of 'The Brotherhood of Saint Nicolas of the Greek Nation', one of the communities in Venice, in 1600.

• He was also a member of the Brotherhood of Venetian Painters from 1584 and had acquired a sobriquet, 'Aliense'.

• The name derives from the Latin alienus, meaning stranger, alien, foreign, and was presumably given to Vassilacchi because of his completely alien, that is non-Italian.

• Vassilacchi married three times.

• His son, Stefano followed in his father's footsteps as a painter.

• Vassilacchi also had two daughters.

• Carlo Ridolfi was his biographer and student, among his pupils was also Tomasso Dollobella.

• Aliense died on Easter's eve, 1629, in his seventy-third year.

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