Think that you may own a painting by Pier Francesco Mola? We authenticate, appraise, research and issue certificates of authenticity (COA) and provide consultations for all paintings by Pier Francesco Mola.

Pier Francesco Mola was an Italian painter of the High Baroque, mainly active around Rome. Mola was born at Coldrerio (now in Ticino, Switzerland). At the age of four, he moved to Rome with his father Giovanni Battista, an architect. With the exception of the years 1633-40 and 1641-47, during which he resided in Venice and Bologna, respectively, he lived for the rest of his life in Rome.

His early training was with the late mannerist painter Cavalier D'Arpino, and he worked under the classicizing Francesco Albani. His masterpiece is the fresco in the gallery of Alexander VII in the Quirinal Palace Gallery, entitled Joseph making himself known to his Brethren (1657). He was elected Principe of the Accademia di San Luca, the Roman artists' professional association, in 1662, but his last years were neither profitable nor prolific. One of his pupils was Antonio Gherardi.

With his looser style and handling, more naturalistic palette, and interest in exploring landscape elements, Mola rebelled against the prevailing, highly-theoretical classicism of such leading 17th-century Roman painters as Andrea Sacchi.

In February of 2007, a painting depicting an astronomer and identified as a lost work of Pier Francesco Mola was auctioned in California for $600,000. Some Mola works have sold for considerably higher prices.

Still wondering about a painting in your family collection? Contact us…it could be by Francesco Mola.