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| Corrado Giaquinto |
By October 1724, he had left Molfetta, and along with Francesco de Mura and Giuseppe Bonito, he trained from 1719 to 1723 in the prolific Neapolitan studio of Francesco Solimena. In 1723, he moved to Rome to work in the studio of Sebastiano Conca.
In March 1727, Giaquinto opens, along with Giuseppe Rossi, an independent studio near the Ponte Sisto in Rome. In 1734, he marries Caterina Silvestri Agate.
The first documented work by his hand is 'Christ crucified with the Madonna, Saint John Evangelist, and Magdalene' commissioned in 1730 by king John V of Portugal for the cathedral of the Mafra. In 1731, he received a prestigious commission, to execute frescoes in the church of San Nicola dei Lorenesi. In 1733, the architect and artistic director for the House of Savoy, Filippo Juvarra, invites Giaquinto to Turin, where he completes an altarpiece.
Giaquinto returns briefly Rome in 1735, where his wife dies soon after childbirth. He then returns for the next three years to Turin, to complete frescoes for the chapel of Saint Giuseppe in the Turinese church of Santa Teresa.