(b Antwerp, c. 1540; d Bologna, 16 April 1619). Flemish painter and draughtsman, active in Italy. In 1556–7 he was inscribed in the registers of the painters’ corporation in Antwerp as a pupil of the landscape painter Kerstiaen van Queboorn (1515–78). Calvaert went to Bologna c. 1560, where he was to remain for the rest of his life. There he came under the protection of the influential Bolognini family and entered the workshop of Prospero Fontana the elder. After about two years he left Fontana to work with Lorenzo Sabatini, with whom he collaborated on several pictures, including the Holy Family with the Archangel St Michael (Bologna, S Giacomo Maggiore) and an Assumption (Bologna, Pin. N.). Calvaert’s oeuvre is composed almost exclusively of religious works, ranging in size from vast altarpieces to small devotional pictures on copper. This sets him apart from other Netherlandish painters, notably those of the school of Prague, for whom Classical mythology was a constant source of inspiration. His first signed and dated work was Vigilance (1568; Bologna, Pin. N.); thereafter he developed a more original style, as in the Noli me tangere (Bologna, Pin. N.). However, these early works reveal Calvaert’s inexperience in painting figures and the influence of Marten de Vos, whose work Calvaert must have seen in Antwerp before leaving for Italy.

• Calvaert, Denys
  • Bologna, §II, 2: Art life and organization, after c 1400
  • collaboration
    • Sabatini, Lorenzo
    • Vasari: (1) Giorgio Vasari, §I, 3(iii): Years of maturity, 1553–74
  • pupils
    • Albani, Francesco, §1(i): Bologna, to 1600
    • Domenichino, §1(i): Bologna and Rome, 1581–1612
    • Gessi, Francesco
    • Reni, Guido, §I, 1: Bologna, 1575–1601
    • Savonanzi, Emilio
    • Sementi, Giovan Giacomo
  • reproductive prints by others
    • Carracci, §II: (2) Agostino Carracci
    • Sadeler: (4) Aegidius Sadeler II