Benozzo Gozzoli

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Benozzo Gozzoli
Self-portrait from fresco Procession of the Magi
Born
Benozzo di Lese

c. 1421
Sant'Ilario a Colombano, Republic of Florence
Died4 October 1497(1497-10-04) (aged 75–76)
Pistoia, Republic of Florence
NationalityFlorentine
Known forPainting, fresco
MovementEarly Renaissance

Benozzo Gozzoli (pronounced

painters of his generation. While he was mainly active in Tuscany, he also worked in Umbria and Rome.[1]

Biography

Apprenticeship

Gozzoli was born Benozzo di Lese,

Sant'Ilario a Colombano around 1421. His family moved to nearby Florence in 1427. According to the 16th century Italian biographer Giorgio Vasari, Gozzoli was a pupil and assistant of Fra Angelico
in the early part of his career.

Gozzoli assisted Angelico in the execution of fresco decorations in the dormitory cells of the Convent of San Marco in Florence. Established contributions here include The Adoration of the Magi in Cosimo de' Medici's cell and the Women at the Tomb in a larger depiction of the Resurrection of Christ in cell 8. Like many other Early Renaissance painters, Benozzo was initially trained as a goldsmith as well as a painter.

Between 1444 and 1447, he was therefore able to collaborate with Lorenzo Ghiberti on the famous Gates of Paradise of the Florence Baptistery.

Madonna and Child Giving Blessings, Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, Rome, 1449 (also attributed to Fra Angelico)

On 23 May 1447, Benozzo was with

Vatican Palace. This chapel was later demolished, so nothing of these works remains. He then accompanied Angelico to Umbria, where they decorated a chapel vault in the Orvieto Cathedral
.

Due to political complications in the city, they completed only two of the four vault webs and were again summoned to the Vatican, where the pair worked for

Basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli.[citation needed
]

Both Fra Angelico and Lorenzo Ghiberti were to influence much of Gozzoli's work for the rest of his life. From Ghiberti he learned precision in depicting the finest details and how to illustrate a story vividly, while from Fra Angelico, he took his bright color palette, transferring it to the art of fresco painting.[2]

In Umbria

Scenes from the Life of St Francis, Museum Complex of San Francesco, Montefalco, 1452

In 1449, Gozzoli left Angelico and moved to Umbria. In the hilltown of Narni there is an Annunciation from 1450, signed OPU[S] BENOT[I] DE FLORENT[IA]. In the monastery of San Fortunato, near Montefalco, Gozzoli painted a Madonna and Child between St. Francis and St. Bernardine of Siena, and three other works. One of these, the altarpiece Madonna of the Girdle, is now in the Vatican Museums and shows the affinity of Benozzo's early style to Angelico's.

In 1450, Gozzoli received his first major independent commission from the monastery of S. Francesco in Montefalco. There, he filled the choir chapel with three registers of episodes from the life of

Saint Jerome, there is a fresco by Gozzoli of the Virgin and Saints, the Crucifixion
and other subjects.

Gozzoli probably remained at Montefalco (with an interval at Viterbo) until 1456, employing Pier Antonio Mezzastris as an assistant. Then, he went to Perugia and painted a Virgin and Saints that is now in the local academy.

Return to Florence

Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence
, 1459–1461

That same year, Benozzo returned to his native city Florence, the epicenter of Quattrocento art. Between 1459 and 1461, Gozzoli painted what may be considered his most important works, the frescoes in the

Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence
, 1459–1461

His frescoes in the Magi Chapel brought Gozzoli a great amount of fame and ensured him of new important commissions. One of these was an altarpiece for the Confraternity of the Purification in Florence, originally housed in the Convent of San Marco. The Virgin and Child Enthroned among Angels and Saints that he produced between 1461 and 1462 for this occasion now houses in the

National Gallery, London.[4]

Late years in Tuscany

San Gimignano

In 1463, likely in fear of the plague, Gozzoli left Florence for

Collegiate Church of Santa Maria Assunta, Gozzoli furthermore painted a fresco of the Martyrdom of Sebastian
. He stayed in San Gimignano until 1467, completing some further works in the city and its vicinity.

Pisa

Purification of the Virgin, Benozzo Gozzoli, 1460–1461 (Philadelphia Museum of Art)

In 1469, Gozzoli moved to Pisa and began working on his most extensive commission: the vast series of mural paintings in the

Campo Santo edifice of Pisa. There, he depicted twenty-four subjects from the Old Testament, ranging from the Invention of Wine by Noah to the Visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon
. He was contracted to paint three subjects per year for about ten ducats each. It appears, however, that this contract was not strictly adhered to, for the actual rate of painting was only three pictures in two years. Perhaps the great multitude of figures and accessories was accepted as a set-off against the slower rate of production.

By January 1470 he had executed the fresco of Noah and his Family, followed by the Curse of Ham, the Building of the

Adoration of the Magi
, wherein appears a portrait of himself.

All this enormous mass of work, in which Benozzo was probably assisted by

St. Thomas Aquinas, now in the Louvre), in sixteen years, lasting up to 1485. This is the latest date which can with certainty be assigned to any work from his hand. Gozzoli died in Pistoia
in 1497, perhaps of a pestilence.

In 1478, as a token of their regard, the Pisan authorities had given him a tomb in the Campo Santo. He likewise had a house of his own in Pisa, and houses and land in Florence.[4]

Trivia

  • The painters Francesco, Gerolamo, and Alesso di Benozzo were his sons and assisted him on various commissions.
  • The Master of the Small Figures identified by Longhi is the same painter called Alunno di Benozzo (pupil of Benozzo) by Berenson. The name is based on stylistic grounds.[6]

Works

St. Ursula, National Gallery of Art, 1455–1460
Saints with Kneeling Donors, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1481

Notes

  1. ^
    Vite
     (1568).

References

  1. ^ Ailsa Turner. "Gozzoli, Benozzo." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 7 June 2016
  2. ^ "Benozzo Gozzoli Biography". Olga's Gallery. Retrieved November 9, 2017.
  3. ^ History of the chapel of the Choir of San Francesco, and its frescoes Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine with depictions and descriptions of all the scenes.
  4. ^ a b  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rossetti, William Michael (1911). "Gozzoli, Benozzo". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 12 (11th ed.). pp. 305–306. This has additional references:
    • Vasari, Crowe and Cavalcaselle, and the other ordinary authorities, can be consulted as to the career of Gozzoli.
    • A separate Life of him, by H. Stokes, was published in 1903 in Newne's Art library.
  5. ^ "Apsidal Chapel of Sant'Agostino in San Gimignano, Italy". Olga's Gallery. Retrieved November 9, 2017.
  6. ^ The Samuel H. Kress Study Collection at the University of Missouri, by Norman E. Land, page 29-33.

Sources

  • Dale Kent, Cosimo de' Medici and the Florentine Renaissance (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000).
  • Franco Cardini, The Chapel of the Magi in Palazzo Medici (Firenze: Mandragora, 2001).
  • Roger J. Crum, "Roberto Martelli, the Council of Florence, and the Medici Palace Chapel", Zeitschrift & Kunstgeschichte, 59 (1996).
  • Benozzo Gozzoli a San Gimignano, a cura di Gerardo de Simone, Cristina Borgioli, exhib. catal. (San Gimignano, Pinacoteca & Museo d’Arte Sacra, 18 June-1 November 2016), Firenze, Giunti, 2016

External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Benozzo_Gozzoli&oldid=1216428109"