(Pietro), painter of history and landscape, was born at Crotona in 1596; and, according to some writers, was a disciple of Andrea Commodi; though others affirm that he was the disciple of Baccio Ciarpi, and the author of the Abrege says he was successively the author of both; but he is allowed to have been as great and as enlarged a genius as any of his profession, and to have painted more agreeably than most of the artists who were his contemporaries. He went young to Rome, and applied himself diligently to study the antiques, the works of Raphael, Buonarotti, and Polidoro; by which he so improved his taste and his hand, that he distinguished himself in a degree superior to any of the artists of his time. He worked with remarkable ease and freedom; his figures are admirably grouped; his distribution is truly elegant; the chiaro-uroso is judiciously observed; and through his whole compositions there appears uncommon grace: but De Piles observes, that it was not such a grace as was the portion of Raphael and Correggio; but a general grace, consisting rather in a habit of making the airs of his heads always agreeable, than in a choice of expressions suitable to each subject. In his large compositions, the colouring had a good effect; but his colouring in fresco is far superior to what he performed in oil: nor do his etch pictures appear as finished as might be expected from so great a master, when compared with what he painted in a larger size. By the best judges it seems to be agreed, that although this master was frequently incorrect; though not always judicious in his expressions; though irregular in his draperies, and apt to design his figures too short and too heavy; yet, by the magnificence of his composition, the delicate airs of his figures, the grandeur of his decorations, and the astonishing beauty and gracefulness of the whole together, he must be allowed to have been the most agreeable mannerist that any age hath produced.—He died in 1669. Some of his most capital works are in the Barberini palace at Rome, and the Palazzo Pitti at Florence.