Pier Maria Baldi

Born around 1630 in Florence, Pier Maria Baldi trained under Baldassare Franceschini, known as il Volterrano. He worked along with fellow pupil Cosimo Ulivelli in Franceschini's projects, decorating rooms in the Palazzo Giraldi, now Taddei, on via de' Ginori.^[1] He had a brother Romualdo Baldi, who was a friend of Franceschini.^[2]

In 1667 the Grand Duke Ferdinando II de' Medici recommended Pier Maria to Bernini and Pietro da Cortona in Rome. From September 1668 to March 1669 he was a chamberlain to the future Cosimo III de' Medici, while the latter traveled through Europe, including France,^[3] Spain,^[4][5] Portugal,^[6] Ireland, England, the Netherlands and Belgium. He documented painted and drawn vedute of this trip, conserved in two volumes in the Biblioteca Laurenziana of Florence. This is a fascinating collection of the skylines of European towns in the 17th century.

Among his painted figure pieces are a Madonna of the Rosary and Saint Domenic (circa 1684) for the main altar of San Domenico al Maglio (now belonging to the Scuola di Sanità Militare)^[7] and a lunette frescoed with the Baptism of St Augustine in the first cloister of Santo Spirito.