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Petrazzi, Astolfo
(b Siena, 20 Nov 1580; d Siena, 12 Aug 1653). Italian painter. His art was entirely rooted in the artistic traditions of Siena. The influence of the Late Mannerist art of Francesco Vanni and Ventura Salimbeni is evident in the angular drapery and swift flickering colour of such early works as St Francis Receiving the Stigmata (early 1600s; Siena, Col. Chigi-Saracini), while the sweetness of expression and domestic mood of the Virgin with Child and St Catherine of Siena (Siena, Col. Chigi-Saracini) reveal his debt to the art of Alessandro Casolani (1552–1606) and Vincenzo Rustici. Between 1610 and 1620 Petrazzi developed a new style, derived both from the Caravaggesque naturalism of Rutilio Manetti and Francesco Rustici, and from the clear and direct realism of Lodovico Cigoli and Matteo Rosselli. Rosselli’s paintings also inspired the warm Venetian palette and meticulous rendering of precious fabrics, evident in such works as the Adoration of the Magi (Siena, S Sebastiano in Vallepiatta). In the 1620s Petrazzi went to Rome, where he responded to the classical trends in contemporary Roman painting. This is apparent in the paintings he produced after his return to Siena c. 1624–5: for example the Last Communion of St Jerome (1631; Siena, S Agostino)—his first documented work—and the Young John the Baptist Comforted by Angels (1639; Siena, S Giovannino in Pantaneto), both of which suggest the influences of Domenichino and Guido Reni. Petrazzi’s late works, though copious, are marred by a remarkable repetitiousness of types and compositions and by a progressive decline in quality. Those of the 1640s include the Martyrdrom of St Bartholomew (1644; Ancaiano parish church). Petrazzi also painted still-lifes (e.g. Kitchen Maid with Game and Fruits, Siena, priv. col.; see Avanzati, p. 542) and genre scenes (e.g. the Butcher’s Shop; Siena, Col. Chigi-Saracini), and presided over a drawing school for students in his home.
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