Gregorio de’ Ferrari

Gregorio de Ferrari (c. 1647–1726) was an Italian Baroque painter of the Genoese school.

De Ferrari was born in Porto Maurizio. He came to Genoa to study law but instead became a painter. He apprenticed with Domenico Fiasella from 1664–69, and in this period he may have painted in the style of Giovanni Andrea de Ferrari and Giovanni Battista Casone. He assisted Fiasella on the altarpiece St Clare Repulsing the Saracens (1667) for the parish church in Montoggio.

He travelled to Parma (staying from 1669 to 1673), where he worked in quadratura frescoes. It was here where he abandoned Fiasella's monumental style in favour of a more characteristic, lyrical style. He also made copies of Coreggio's frescoes in the dome of the Parma cathedral, two of which - Rest on the Flight to Egypt and Virgin with St. Jerome and the Magdalene - were later listed as the property of Anton Raphael Mengs. During this time he may have exchanged ideas with Giovanni Battista Gaulli and Andrea Carlone, both of whom informed his style of work as evidenced by certain qualities adopted after his return to Genoa, such as graceful elongations and vertical spiral movements of the figures, which in turn suggests additional influence by the sculptors Filippo Parodi and Bernardo Schiaffino.

Gregorio made two works inspired by Coreggio, St. Francis Comforted by an Angel and the Rest on the Flight to Egypt, dated from 1674 to 1675. He ultimately joined his father-in-law, Domenico Piola, in the prolific studio known as Casa Piola, which was founded in the 1660s. They were both active in the decoration of the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata del Vastato. They worked in styles that blended Cortona, Correggio, and Castiglione's styles.

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