Painter, part of an Italian family of artists, son of Taddeo Carlone (1543–1615), a sculptor, and brother of the painter Giovanni Carlone (1584-1630). He probably went to Rome with his brother and studied in Florence with Domenico Passignano on the way back to Genoa. The many frescoes datable to the 1620s suggest that the brothers probably worked as a team. Giovanni Battista's independent activity is not documented before 1630-32, when he finished the frescoes begun by his brother in S Antonio Abate in Milan. His earliest dated work is a canvas of St James Opening the Door for King Ferdinand (1632; Genoa, oratory of S Giacomo della Marina), which shows figures with sharp facial features and twisting, tight drapery folds - a figure style indebted to Salvator Rosa and distinctly different from the slightly swollen faces and hands in the figures by Giovanni Carlone I. He spent most of his life in his native Genoa, painting mainly for local religious buildings and private patrons. Giovanni Battista Carlone's studio produced a vast quantity of brilliantly coloured frescoes, which were highly proficient and popular; these are best seen on the nave vaults of the large Genoese churches, S Ambrogio and S Siro. He relied on family members, and among his 24 children were Simon Carlone, Niccolo Carlone (1644-1714) and Giovanni Andrea Carlone, who assisted him and kept the studio alive until the end of the 17th century. //