(b Rome, 25 Aug 1623; d Rome, 12 Dec 1694). Italian painter and draughtsman. He painted both large decorative works and small cabinet pictures, and Francesco Saverio Baldinucci (1663–1738), whose biography of Lauri is the most complete, tells us that he ‘worked with great originality in every kind of painting ... rendering landscapes, fruits, flowers, animals and architecture’. He studied first with his father, Balthasar Lauwers (1578–1645), a Flemish landscape painter whose name was Italianized as Lauri, and then with his elder brother, Francesco Lauri (1612–37), and with his brother-in-law, Angelo Caroselli. At least until the death of Caroselli (1652) he worked as a copyist. Francesco had been a pupil of Andrea Sacchi, and Filippo, who was thus trained in a classical tradition, developed an elegant style, indebted to 17th-century Bolognese painters, particularly Domenichino and Francesco Albani. His art was admired by princely Roman families, and among his earliest works were two frescoed ceilings (1651–c. 1653; untraced) for the casino built by Girolamo Farnese (1599–1668) at Porta San Pancrazio (Baldinucci). In 1654 Lauri became a member of the Accademia di S Luca, Rome, of which he later became Principe (1684–5), and in the same year painted a Flight into Egypt (untraced) for the church of Rocca Sinibaldi, near Rieti. There followed three pictures (1656; untraced) for the cathedral at Sorrento, and Lauri collaborated with Filippo Gagliardi (d 1659) on a large canvas, Nocturnal Festivity for Queen Christina of Sweden (1656; Rome, Pal. Braschi), adding over 200 small figures to Gagliardi’s architectural setting.

• Lauri, Filippo
  • collaboration
    • Codazzi, Viviano
    • Dughet, Gaspard, §1(ii): Middle period, c 1635–c 1660
    • Dughet, Gaspard, §1(iii): Late period, c 1660 and after
    • Mario dei Fiori
  • patrons and collectors
    • Cecil: (3) John Cecil, 5th Earl of Exeter
    • Clerk: (2) John Clerk, 2nd Baronet of Penicuik
    • Isham,Thomas
  • teachers
    • Caroselli, Angelo