Domenico Fetti was born in Rome around 1589. His father, Pietro Fetti, was also a painter. Domenico received his early artistic training in Rome, where he studied with Lodovico Cigoli and encountered the work of artists including Caravaggio, Adam Elsheimer, and Peter Paul Rubens.
Fetti entered the service of Ferdinando Gonzaga, who became Duke of Mantua in 1613. Moving to Mantua in 1614, he worked as a court painter and became closely acquainted with the duke's important art collection. The paintings of Rubens and the Venetian masters helped shape his mature style.
During his years in Mantua, Fetti produced portraits, religious paintings, and mythological subjects. His most celebrated achievement was a series of small paintings illustrating the parables of Jesus, commissioned for the Gonzaga court around 1618-1621. These works presented Gospel teachings through familiar human situations and became widely admired and copied.
In 1622, following a violent dispute, Fetti left Mantua for Venice. There he continued painting religious and other subjects, developing an increasingly expressive use of color and brushwork. His career ended with his death in Venice in 1623.