He began training in his native town under a minor painter named Pompeo Cesura, but by 1560 he was in Rome, and collaborated on the decoration of the Cappella dell'Ascensione in the church of Santo Spirito, Sassia.
Later, he assumed posts as maestro di cappella at Santa Maria in Trastevere (from 1624); then, at Santo Spirito in Sassia (from 1630); and, eventually, at his old church, San Luigi dei Francesi (from 1638).
These now focused on a single institution, the original and by this time extremely large Arcispedale di Santo Spirito in Sassia, the buildings of which dated from the time of Pope Sixtus IV (1471–84), which at its height was capable of accommodating over 1,000 patients, with additional spaces for contagious and for dangerously insane cases, and more than 100 medical staff, and an international remit.
The relics of both were preserved, together with those of a holy virgin named Nympha, at the Hospital of the Holy Ghost in Sassia.
Sassia |
# Jan Kazimierz Denhoff, preceptor of the Hospital S. Spirito in Sassia of Rome – cardinal-priest of S. Giovanni a Porta Latina (received the title on 30 September 1686), † 20 June 1697