Pietro del Pò (1616 – 22 July 1692), also spelled del Po, was an Italian painter, engraver, and draughtsman of the Baroque. He was more distinguished as an engraver than as a painter. Early life Pietro was born in Palermo in 1616, the son of Francesco Jacopo and Francesca lo Po. He began to draw at a very early age and later began to paint under the guidance of an unknown master. He married Maria Monforti on 12 July 1637 in the parish of Santa Croce in Palermo. After the death of his wife, he moved to Naples in 1644, perhaps inspired by the need for a more stimulating environment. Naples was in fact a lively artistic center, dominated by the presence of such artists as Jusepe de Ribera, Domenichino and Giovanni Lanfranco; the latter artists had come from Rome. It was indeed this classicist style that provided an interest for Del Pò. The sources indicate that he was a student of Domenichino, but direct contact with the Bolognese artist is now disputed. Rather, it seems probable that he studied with Lanfranco between 1644 and 1646. During those same years he came into contact with artists such as Ribera, Francesco Vaccaro, Massimo Stanzione, and Charles Mellin. Here, he was married for a second time, to the widow Maffei, Porzia Campagna (or Compagna). Rome In 1647, Pietro and his family moved to Rome in order to be near Lanfranco, who had just returned to the capital and for whom Del Pò had become “his most useful assistant”. In 1649 his daughter Teresa, who later also became an engraver and painter. Between 1651 and 1652 Del Pò lived on Via Margutta, the artists' quarter, where he met Jean Dughet, for whom he produced several etchings after subjects by Nicolas Poussin. In fact, it seems that Poussin assigned to Dughet the task of reproducing his paintings in etchings, and later dedicated them to his most important patrons. De Domenici believed that Pietro del Pò knew Poussin personally. In 1652 he was admitted to the Virtuosi al Pantheon. He also became a member of the Academy of St. Luke that year, where he later served as lecturer in anatomy and perspective, and, following the death of Orfeo Boselli, Del Pò was elected its president in 1668 but refused the post. Also in 1652, his son Giacomo was born who also became a well known