Giovanni Battista Merano (Genoa 1632-1698 Piacenza)

A pupil of Giovanni Andrea de Ferrari and Valerio Castello, Giovanni Battista Merano studied closely the works of Correggio and Parmigianino in Parma, where he went in the 1650s. His earliest known painting is a monogrammed Crucifixion with Saints Lawrence and George in the Palazzo Ducale, Genoa, datable to circa 1652. Like his contemporary Domenico Piola, who had also studied with Valerio Castello, Merano's activity in Genoa greatly increased in the 1660s and by 1670 he was taking on accomplished pupils such as Giovanni Maria delle Piane. In the 1680s Merano travelled to Piacenza where he was patronised by Duke Ranuccio II Farnese, from whom he received an annual stipend. He also had patrons in Novi, where genoese nobleman owned country retreats