?, 1730 - ?, 1794

Girolamo Starace Franchis

He was among the most important decorative artists active in Naples during the reign of Ferdinand IV of Bourbon. Sent to Rome on a scholarship courtesy of Luigi Vanvitelli in 1756, he created copies at Casa Farnese of works by Raphael and Annibale Carracci. On his return to Naples, he contributed to projects at the Royal Tapestry Works in 1762. At Vanvitelli’s invitation, he came to Caserta to work on decorating the staircase vault in the new palace. There, he painted the Allegories of the four seasons and the Apollo’s Palace, followed by an allegory with the Glory of the Princeps and the twelve Provinces of the Kingdom of Naples in the vault of the Bodyguards’ room. Now lost, however, are his frescoes in several rooms in Palazzo Berio in Naples and the loggia of the Palace of Portici. He was prolific in both Caserta and Naples. In the latter, he worked in the Church of SS Marcellino and Festo (Christ and Mary Magdalene, signed and dated 1764), the Royal House of the Holy Annunciation (Baptism of Christ and the Immaculate Conception, c.1770) and San Paolo Maggiore (frescoes with Allegories of Virtue). In Caserta, he painted a Madonna of the Rosary in the Church of San Sebastiano. And in the Church of Ave Gratia Plena in Marcianise, in the province of Caserta, he produced the Crown of Thorns, the Fall under the Cross, a Deposition and, in the sacristy, an Annunciation and the vault fresco with The alms of St Lucia.