CASIBIA'SO, LUCA, sometimes called LUCHETTO DA GENOVA, a very celebrated Italian painter in fresco and in oil, was born at Moneglia near Genoa, oa St. Luke's day, in 1527. He was instructed by his father Giovanni, a painter of considerable merit, and dis tinguished himself even when a boy, and though he is not known to have visited Rome in his youth, his best works have many of tho qualities of the Roman masters. After a long and honourable career at Genoa, where he was without a rival, he went, in 1683, t.o•Spain, with his son Orazio, and L. Tavarone, one of his pupils, to &mist him in some works which Philip II. had commissioned him to execute in the Escurial. Cemhiaso was invited to Spain by Philip II. to supply the place of his old friend and fellow-labourer 0. B. Castello, of Bergamo, who died in Madrid in 1579. Catubiaso and Castello executed several paintings together in Genoa.
Cambiaao executed several works in tho Escurial, the largest of which was an immense fresco of Paradise, containing a vast number of figures, arranged as the monks desired on the ceiling of the choir of the church of San Lorenzo. He received 12,000 ducats for this
picture, yet it occupied him only fifteen months ; it was however in the opinion of Meogs much inferior to his best works in Genoa : the composition is formal and bad, but for this the monks must be held responsible. The oil painting of 'John the Baptist preaching in the Wilderness,' also in tho Escurial, is the best of his Spanish works. Ho died at the Escurial in 1585, and Philip greatly regretted his loss. He was called Cangisso by the Spaniards. He was a painter of sur prising facility and power ; Armenini compared him with Tintoretto ; he painted however latterly with great negligence. Cambiaso's masterpiece is considered the 'Martyrdom of St. George' iu the church of San Giorgio at Genoa. ' The Rape of the Sabines,' in Torralba near Genoa, is also a magnificent and celebrated work. His portrait by himself is in tho Florentine gallery : several of his works have beeu engraved.
(Soprani, Vile de Pittori, &c.; Coen Bermudez, Diccionario His toric°, &c.)