FRANCESCO COZZA (cerchia di)

(Stignano, 1605 - Rome, 1682) Christ and the Adulteress Oil on canvas, 111X87 cm Born in Calabria, Francesco Cozza carried out his activity in Rome, at the beginning as a pupil and collaborator of Domenichino, from whom he assimilated the distinctive features of Bolognese classicism. Having freed himself from the master in 1631 and begun an independent career, his art was soon appreciated, as Giovan Battista Passeri and Leone Pascoli testify, who esteemed him as "intelligent and studious". In 1648 he joined the Congregazione dei Virtuosi del Pantheon and his relations with Gregorio Preti, Mattia's brother, a member of the same institution. Between 1637 and 1641 the artist stayed in Naples, while in the following decade, between 1658 and 1659, he painted the decoration of the Stanza del Fuoco in Palazzo Doria Pamphilj in Valmontone, which, together with the frescoes on the vault of the Collegio Innocenziano in Piazza Navona depicting Divine Wisdom, express the synthesis of his various experiences and his excellent pictorial versatility. The work presented here dates to his full maturity.