Giacomo Zoboli

Italian (1681-1767)

Giacomo Zoboli, also known as Jacopo, was born in Modena in 1681 and trained there in the studio of the d’Este court painter Francesco Stringa, with whom he collaborated on frescoes in the Palazzo Ducale in 1708. In 1709 Zoboli moved to Bolgona where he assisted Giovanni Gioseffo dal Sole until 1713, dividing his time between his apprenticeship and the creation of a number of autonomous works. In Bologna he was patronized by the collector Marchese Taddeo Rangoni, and received commissions from the Elector of Bavaria and the Habsburgs. He then settled in Rome, where he was much influenced by Carlo Maratta. In 1718 he was admitted to the Accademia dei Virtuosi of the Pantheon, and in 1725 to the Guild of St Luke. In 1742 he was commissioned to paint sketches for mosaics in the dome of the Chapel of the Madonna of the Column, located to the left of the tribune in St Peter’s, Rome, which were executed between 1751 and 1757 under Pope Benedict XIV.

Zoboli’s works can be found in the collections of the British Museum, London, the Morgan Library and Museum, the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, and the Metropolitan Museum, New York.