There, Lanfranco initially collaborated with other Carracci students on the Farnese Palace Gallery wall. In 1605 he was commissioned to decorate the Camerino degli Eremiti, also in the Palazzo Farnese, the first of many commissions from important Roman families. The first decade of Lanfranco in Rome it marked the beginning of a personal style, although quite erratic; but tempered by an underlying correctness of lyricism and strong reminiscences of Correggio in the features, gestures and poses of the individual figures.
In 1610 Lanfranco He returned to Emilia for a brief stay of two years, during which he received several altar commissions in Piacenza. His style quickly reflected an intense study by Lodovico Carracci (1555-1619) and Bartolomeo Schedoni (1578-1615). He also renewed his study of Correggio’s frescoes in Parma. From this model he developed his apparently effortless skills as a ceiling painter.
After returning to Rome in late 1612, Lanfranco He slowly reestablished his contacts among the leading Roman patrons, and soon established himself as one of the most productive and inventive fresco painters of the time. In 1616 he decorated the Buongiovanni Chapel in Sant’Agostino. His close ties with Pope Paul V Borghese, earned him several commissions, the most important of which was the extensive decoration of the Blessing of the Lodge in San Pedro (not executed).
Lanfranco’s main commission in the 1620s was the dome of San Andrés del Valle, in which he used the correggesco illusionism of the Chapel of Good Will on a monumental scale, and thus established it as the predominant format for dome frescoes in the 18th century. He also received several important commissions from Pope Urban VIII Barberini, including the altar Navicella (1627-1628) and the Chapel of the Crucifixion in San Pedro (1629-1632). The 1620s saw the development of what is considered the mature “baroque” style of Lanfranco, with strong chiaroscuro effects and expansive and energetic figures.
While the success of Lanfranco led him to be elected Prince of the Academy of San Lucas in 1631, the main commissions fell on the younger artists favored by the court of Urban VIII Barberini. In 1633 he gladly accepted the dome of Jesus in Naples. For the next thirteen years he received the most important commissions in Naples, leaving little time for easel paintings. Bellori, who praised and even defended the seemingly almost innate ease of Lanfranco, he noted that in very large decorative cycles, the artist engaged in unreasonable practices, and as others had observed, he painted only for his abilities.
Passeri reported that Lanfranco He was not given to teaching by precepts, preferring to let his works speak for themselves. The Lanfranco frescoes, and particularly its domes, were of great importance to the later development of fresco decoration in Italy and elsewhere. In Naples, Lanfranco It had little impact on artists during his lifetime, but was very important to younger painters such as Mattia Preti (1613-1699), Luca Giordano (1634-1705), and Francesco Solimena (1657-1747). Lanfranco died in Rome in 1647.