(b Bergamo, 7 Dec. 1617; d Bergamo, 16 Mar. 1677). Italian painter, the outstanding member of a dynasty of artists. Although he was an ordained priest, almost all his pictures depict arrangements of musical instruments—beautifully poised and polished works that led Rudolf Wittkower to describe him as ‘probably Italy's greatest still-life painter’. His inclination for his favourite subject may have been influenced by the contemporary fame of the Amati family of violin-makers of Cremona, which is near to Baschenis's native town of Bergamo. The Accademia Carrara there has the best collection of his paintings.