Giovanni Lanfranco, an Italian painter, born in Parma in 1581, died in Rome in 1647. While a boy in the service of Count Orazio Scotti in Piacenza, he attracted the attention of his master by some designs executed upon a wall with charcoal. He was placed under Agostino Carracci, and subsequently studied at Rome with Annibale Carracci, whom he assisted in decorating the Farnese palace. His chief work is the cupola of S. Andrea della Valle in Rome, which is one of the most beautiful in the city, and was the result of four years' study and labor. The paintings at the angles are by Domenichino in his best style. Lanfranco also painted the beautiful cupola of the church of Gesu. Nuovo in Naples, which was destroyed by an earthquake in 1688. He executed many minor works, but his cupolas were most famous. He adopted in them a bold, coarse style (even using a sponge, it was said, instead of a brush), which was well adapted to great heights, and made his figures stand out in fine relief.