Camillo Procaccini was a late Mannerist Italian painter from a family of Bolognese artists. Trained in Bologna and influenced by Correggio, Raphael, and Michelangelo, he taught at the Carracci academy and contributed to their predella in 1585. After studying in Parma and Rome, he produced his first major independent work in Reggio Emilia (1585–1587). He moved to Milan in 1587 at the invitation of Count Pirro Visconti Borromeo, where he enjoyed a long and prolific career for about forty years, painting for the Duomo and many churches in Lombardy and beyond. Key works include The Martyrdom of Saint Agnes (1591) and related organ shutters, as well as extensive decorative projects with his brothers Giulio Cesare and Carlo Antonio, notably at Sant’Angelo in Milan.
Procaccini’s religious paintings emphasized Counter-Reformation themes and earned him a leading role in Milan’s art scene, along with commissions across Lombardy, Emilia, and even Venice, Genoa, and Ticino. He was also a celebrated draughtsman, producing numerous finished drawings and establishing a drawing academy in Milan; his drawings were highly prized by collectors of his time. Later projects included the Piacenza Duomo (1605–1609, with Ludovico Carracci) and the vault of the choir at Santi Paolo e Barnaba (1625). His reputation as a skilled draughtsman and painter led 18th-century biographer Luigi Lanzi to hail him as the “Vasari and Zuccaro of Lombardy.”