Giovanni Francesco Grimaldi Detto Il Bolognese Biography
Giovanni Francesco Grimaldi (Bologna, 1606 – 28 November 1680) was an Italian painter and architect. Initially trained within the Carracci family, who represented one of the main painting schools in Bologna in those years, he then went to Rome while still young. Here he worked for a long time for clients such as Cardinal Francesco Albani and the Santacroce family. In 1638 he married Eleonora Aloisi, daughter of the Bolognese painter Baldassarre (known as Galanino), who died in the same year and was related to the Carraccis through his wife. Also in 1638 he painted the facade of the Palazzo Poli in Rome on the occasion of the visit to the city of Johann Anton, Prince of Eggenberg, sent by Emperor Ferdinand III of Habsburg. He collaborated with Alessandro Algardi on various occasions, including in the preparation of the funeral of the Marquis Ludovico Facchinetti, ambassador of Bologna to the papal court, who died in January 1644. He also took care of other arrangements for parties, funerals and theatrical works between 1640 and 1671. His prestige as an artist in the Roman environment led him to enter the prestigious Academy of San Luca already in 1635 and to hold various positions within this institution (Rector in 1656) up to the highest position of Prince in 1666 after having renounced it in 1658. In 1657 he also joined the Congregation of the Virtuosi at the Pantheon. In 1648 he went, at the invitation of Cardinal Giulio Mazzarino, to Paris, to paint some rooms of the Louvre Palace.
