period show an affinity with those of an anonymous artist likely of French origin, the so-called Candelight Master, who can perhaps be identified with Trophime Bigot. It is assumed that during his presumed stay in Rome from 1621/2 to 1626 he may have been in contact with French followers of Caravaggio active in Rome such as Trophime Bigot and Claude Vignon. The first dated work by della Vecchia is the Calvary in the church of San Lio in Venice, and is dated 1633: It still shows the influence of Carlo Saraceni and Jean Leclerc, his presumed masters. The influence of Bernardo Strozzi becomes noticeable in his work after 1630. This is apparent in the Angel Offering a Skull to St Giustina, who stands between St Joseph and St John (1640, Accademia, Venice) painted for the church of San Giustina. From 1640 to 1673 he painted designs for some the mosaic depictions inside the St. Mark's Basilica. A development towards greater drama was visible after 1650. The works of that time draw again on the Caravaggesque models he followed at the start of his career. The apex of this evolution is apparent in the two remaining works of the cycle of seven paintings that the artist executed between 1664 and 1674 for the second cloister of the Jesuit church in Venice. The paintings represent the Conversion of Francis Borgia (Musée des beaux-arts de Brest) and Marco Gussoni in the Ferrara lazaretto (location unknown). The macabre themes, the effects of spectral lights and the suffocating lack of space in the compositions are unique in Venetian painting of the seventeenth century, comparable only with the morbid paintings of the Milanese or Neapolitan schools. After this cycle his later paintings appear without inspiration and derivative from the painter's earlier works. Of greater interest are some historical paintings of this period, which show in the bold brushstrokes and the bright and dazzling palette the influence of the leading 17th-century Venetian painter Francesco Maffei, who died in 1660. Other works of his later period show the influence of Giambattista Langetti and the group of tenebrosi active in Venice around 1660. Della Vecchia had a notable interest in Venetian masters including Titian and Giorgione. This interest was likely nurtured during a stay as an assistant in the workshop of Padovanino. For his skill in imitating the works of Giorgione, his friend Marco Boschini coined for him the