Certain documentation is lacking but all other evidence makes it most likely late in this year that Pietro and his family moved from Naples to Rome. Finishing his work at the Certosa di San Martino in Naples (final payment received August 25, 1606), Pietro begins his commission for the Assumption relief for the Borghese chapel in Santa Maria Maggiore (first payments received January 4, 1607).
Domenico, 8, states “In this theater of talent [i.e., the city of Rome], Gian Lorenzo made his first appearance at the age of ten,” yet this cannot be for, as just mentioned, Pietro was already being paid for his work in the Pauline Chapel in January 1607 and hence he and his family must have already been physically present in the city.
By the way, there has been no confirmation of the claim by Fraschetti that Pietro was “presidente” of the Roman Accademia di San Luca from 1605-07, “as is known from the list of ‘presidenti’ of the Accademia preserved in its archives” (Fraschetti, 2. The formal title of the Accademia’s director is in reality “principe.”) There is no entry for Pietro in the database “The History of the Accademia di San Luca, c. 1590–1635: Documents from the Archivio di Stato di Roma” (“A Project of the National Gallery of Art [Washington, DC], Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, in Association with the Archivio di Stato di Roma and the Accademia Nazionale di San Luca”).
Bibliography: Mormando, 2011a, 277n.23.
B’s first work of sculpture?
His first work of sculpture?: Domenico, 3: “Following his father’s example, at the age of eight [B] carved a small marble head of a little putto to the great admiration of Pietro.” Domenico probably heard this story from his own father; since Domenico dates it to the 8th year of B’s life and dates the family’s arrival in Rome to his 10th year, the work was supposedly done in Naples. But is it true? That is, was B only 8 years old at the time? Probably not, but there is no doubt that he was indeed a child prodigy, even if the real manifestations of that prodigy did not begin to show until a later date.