GENNARI, Benedetto I
(b. 1563 Cento, d. 1658 Cento)
Italian painter, part of a family of painters. He adopted a style influenced by Caravaggio, and by age 19, was working in the household of Mirandola in Cento. In Cento, he helped to decorate the Palazzo della Comunità and the church of Spirito Santo. Guercino became his apprentice in 1607. His nephews Benedetto II Gennari and Cesare Gennari, sons of his brother Ercole, were also painters.