(b Genoa, bapt 1 Jan 1625; d Genoa, 1657). Italian painter. At the age of 13 or 14 he entered the school of Luciano Borzone, a Genoese artist influenced by Lombard and Venetian painting and by the followers of Caravaggio. He may have remained with Borzone until the latter’s death. Soprani praised Chiesa’s ability as a portrait painter, but none of his portraits has so far been securely identified. The Blessed Piccolomini Curing an Epileptic Child (Genoa, Gal. Pal. Bianco), painted for the Genoese church of Nostra Signora dei Servi, is the only surviving work that may be securely attributed to him. Its documented pendant, the Blessed Laziosi, is untraced, and another canvas, the Virgin with the Blessed Calasanzio (Genoa, church of the Scuole Pie), is documented only until 1768. The Blessed Piccolomini is distinguished by a geometrically balanced composition, by the severity of the figure of Piccolomini and by the expressive highlighting of the faces and hands, all of which demonstrate Chiesa’s close relationship with Borzone. The picture’s intensity is Spanish in feeling and the children strikingly recall Murillo’s urchins. The influence of Caravaggio is also apparent, and this has provoked the speculation that Chiesa visited Rome in the 1640s (Moir). Other paintings attributed to Chiesa are (Belloni) St Martin Giving his Cloak to the Beggar (untraced; see 1928 exh. cat., pl. LII), the Doubting Thomas (Genoa, S Stefano), and (Boggero) Blind Homer Dictating his Verses (Turin, Gal. Sabauda). He died of the plague.