BILIVERT, Giovanni

Italian painter and draftsman of Dutch origin, son of Jacques Bijlivert (Jacopo Biliverti, 1550-1603), a goldsmith from Delft. He probably first studied painting with Alessandro Casolani (¹⁵⁵²⁄₃-1607) in Siena. After his father’s death in 1603, Giovanni entered the studio of Lodovico Cigoli, following him in April 1604 to Rome, where he remained for most of the next three years.

In 1609 Bilivert enrolled in the Accademia del Disegno, Florence. His first documented painting, the Martyrdom of St Callistus (1610; Rome, S Callisto in Trastevere), is indebted both to Cigoli and to naturalistic painting. Bilivert was employed by Cosimo II de’ Medici, from 1611 until the Grand Duke’s death in 1621, as a designer for works in pietra dura.