DOLCI, CARLO or CARLINO (1616-1686), Italian painter, was born in Florence on May 25, 1616, and died there on Jan. 17, 1686. He was a disciple of Jacopo Vignali; and when only II years of age he attempted a whole figure of St. John, and a head of the infant Christ. His portrait of his mother displayed a new and delicate style which brought him extensive employment at Florence and in other parts of Italy.
Carlo Dolci holds somewhat the same rank in the Florentine that Sassoferrato does in the Roman school. Without the posses sion of much genius, invention or elevation of type, both these artists produced highly wrought pictures, extremely attractive to some tastes. Many of his pictures represent the patient suffering of Christ, or the sorrows of the Mater Dolorosa. Dolci was, in fact, from early youth, exceedingly pious ; it is said that during Passion week every year he painted a half-figure of the Saviour. Among his best works are the "St. Sebastian" ; the "Four Evan gelists," at Florence; "Christ Breaking the Bread," in the mar quess of Exeter's collection at Burleigh; the "St. Cecilia" in Dres den; an "Adoration of the Magi"; and in especial "St. Andrew praying before his Crucifixion," in Florence, his most important composition, painted in 1646. There are examples also in the National gallery and Dulwich gallery, London; and at Rome, Vienna, Munich, Berlin and Leningrad.