Andrea Sacchi was a painter with acting chops and a beautiful singing voice

The only thing we know about Andrea's youth is that a middling painter named Benedetto Sacchi adopted him after his parents kicked the bucket. Benedetto's greatest accomplishment was giving Andrea his last name and somehow getting the brat trained under Francesco Albani in Bologna. Andrea was teacher's pet and became Albani's most famous and accomplished pupil.

He's widely regarded as having the best soprano voice in 17th century Rome. He served as a member of the choir in the Sistine chapel and played the hero in many operas produced at the Palazzo Barberini. Of course, it didn't hurt that the wise and powerful Cardinal Barberini was one of Andrea's chief patrons and biggest fans. Another Vatican fanboy, Cardinal Mazarin, was a Sacchi shopaholic. Mazarin moved to Paris after being appointed ambassador to the French king's court and spread the Sacchi love across the continent by gifting the artist's works to the likes of powerbroker Cardinal Richelieu.

What got people so hot over Sacchi was his mastery of Baroque classical styles at a time when the form was the only game in town. He was besties with Nicolas Poussin, another Baroque luminary, and was a close collaborator with Gian Lorenzo Bernini to the point that you sometimes can't tell whose work is whose.    While Sacchi isn't exactly a household name nowadays, his opinion was so respected in the 17th century that the Academy of St. Luke hosted a debate with Sacchi at its heart, advocating for history paintings with fewer figures. It sounds like a real buzzkill evening at face value, but there was a very real concern in centuries past the ramifications changes to art would create in the human heart, and what kind of society everyone would be dealing with as a result. I mean, more figures in a painting, for instance, puts the viewer at a real risk of 'identifying' with some of them, having feelings like 'empathy' and 'compassion.' Maybe Sacchi's right. Better safe than sorry on that one, guys.