Luca Cambiaso

Italian (Genoese), 1527-1585

BiographyBorn in the Republic of Genoa, in Moneglia to a painter, Giovanni Cambiasi, Luca Cambiasi was known as, Cambiaso, also Cangiagio and Lucchetto da Genova. He started painting at a young age with his father, his first works as early as 15 years of age. Then at 17 years old he helped decorate the Palazzo Doria. He worked with the historical painter, Il Bergamasco (1500 – 1579), and assisted him in decorations for the church of San Matteo. The 1911 Britannica states that Cambiasi by his thirties began to decline in skill, though not at once in reputation, owing to the vexations brought upon him by a passion he had for his sister-in-law. His wife having died, and the sister-in-law had taken charge of his house and children, he failed to procure a papal dispensation for marrying her. In 1583 he accepted an invitation from Philip II to complete for the Escorial a series of frescoes begun by Castello; and the 1911 Encyclopædia states the principal reason for traveling to Spain was that he hoped royal influence would gain favor with the Vatican for his marriage plans, but this failed. In the Escorial he executed a Paradise on the vaulting of the church, with a multitude of figures. For this picture he received 2,000 ducats, probably the largest sum that had, up to that time, ever been given for a single work.

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