Cesare Pronti (November 30, 1626 – October 22, 1708) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly near Ravenna.
Biography
He was born at
Cattolica, near
Rimini, and was brought up at
Bologna, training in that city under
Guercino. He then helped complete the quadrature for the Villa Albizzi in
Bologna, working with
Carlo Cignani.
[ Biography. ] He then moved to Ravenna, where Pronti helped decorate with a mix of
quadratura and allegorical figures representing the four known continents in the Rasponi family's palace, Palazzo di San Giacomo, near
Russi. He also helped decorate, with oculi with flying putti, the former church of San Romualdo, now a museum in
Ravenna (in the Biblioteca Classense),
[ Biblioteca Classense.] and formerly a
Camaldolese abbey. In Ravenna, he was commonly called "Padre Cesare da Ravenna". He became an
Augustinians friar as a young man, and was afterwards principally engaged in painting altarpieces for the churches of his fraternity, of which one of the best is an altarpiece depicting
St Thomas of Villanova for Sant'Agostino, Pesaro. He died at Ravenna.
Bibliography
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Cesare Pronti da Cattolica (1626-1708), Un omaggio in quattro atti, a cura di Alessandro Giovanardi, saggi di Ivana Balducci, Annamaria Bernucci, Maurizio Castelvetro, Massimo Pulini, Pazzini Editori, Rimini, 2021,
