Provenzali biography

This engraving is a portrait of the mosaicist, Marcello Provenzali, wearing a contemporary doublet and jacket, and facing the viewer. It is by draftsman and engraver - as well as painter -Ottavio Mario Leoni (1578-1630).

Leoni was active in Rome for his entire life, and was known as "Il Padovano" because his father, a medallist and sculptor, was from Padua.

Provenzali biography

Leoni became the principal of the Accademia di S. Luca in Rome in 1614. His principal patron was Cardinal Scipione Borghese, who assembled a collection of Leoni's numerous characteristic drawings of Roman families, artists, and citizens.

In addition to portrait drawings, Leoni also executed many frescoes and portrait prints. He was the father of Ippolito Leoni, also a portraitist.

Leoni's contemporary reputation is evident in a quotation from Giovanni Baglione: 'In all Rome there was no one who had not his portrait by Ottavio - whether prince, princess, gentlemen, or persons of private rank - and not a ho