TIARINI, Alessandro

Italian painter and draughtsman. His mother died when he was a child, and he was raised by an aunt, and early on they tried, unsuccessfully to guide him towards becoming a cleric. He was the godson of painter Lavinia Fontana and initially apprenticed in Bologna under her father Prospero Fontana. After an unsuccessful attempt to enter the Carracci Academy, he studied for a brief period with Bartolommeo Cesi. Forced to flee from Bologna, due to a quarrel leading to the death of the other party, he moved to Florence, where he is documented between 1599 and 1606. In Florence he painted frescoes, façade decorations, and altarpieces including an Adoration of the Shepherds (Pitti Palace) which reveals a wide range of stylistic influences, not only from Tuscany but also from Venice and Bologna. He mainly worked under Domenico Passignano, but also Bernardino Poccetti and Jacopo da Empoli.

He was lured back to Bologna and Reggio Emilia by Ludovico Carracci. His Grieving over a Dead Jesus is in the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Bologna. His masterpiece in Bologna was a series of frescoes for the Brami Chapel in the sanctuary of Basilica della Ghiara. He also painted in Cremona (1623-24). In 1628 he painted the Story of Gerusalemme Liberata for the Farnese Palazzo del Giardino in Parma. He also painted the Raising of the Cross for the Oratorio della Buona Morte in Reggio, a work presently displayed in the Galleria Estense, Modena.

Tiarini died in Bologna. His closest pupils were Francesco Carbone and Luca Barbieri.