Giovanni Battista Salvi, known as Sassoferrato (1609–1685), was an Italian Baroque painter famed for serene devotional images of the Virgin Mary and the saints. Deeply inspired by Raphael and earlier Umbrian masters, he cultivated a consciously archaic, classical style with calm poses, smooth surfaces, and luminous color. His Madonnas in prayer became especially popular in Counter‑Reformation Catholic devotion.