Moretto da Brescia
Moretto da Brescia | |
---|---|
Born | Alessandro Bonvicino c. 1498 Rovato, Italy |
Died | December 1554 |
Known for | Painting |
Movement | High Renaissance |
Alessandro Bonvicino (also Buonvicino) (c. 1498 – possibly 22 December 1554), more commonly known as Moretto, or in Italian Il Moretto da Brescia (the Moor of Brescia), was an Italian Renaissance painter from Brescia, where he also mostly worked. His dated works span the period from 1524 to 1554, but he was already described as a master in 1516. He was mainly a painter of altarpieces that tend towards sedateness, mostly for churches in and around Brescia, but also in Bergamo, Milan, Verona, and Asola; many remain in the churches they were painted for. The majority of these are on canvas, but a considerable number, including some large pieces, are created on wood panels. There are only a few surviving drawings from the artist.[1]
He also painted a few portraits, but these are more influential. A full-length Portrait of a Man in the National Gallery, London, dated 1526, seems to be the earliest Italian independent portrait at full length, all the more unexpected as the subject, though clearly a wealthy nobleman, shows no sign of being from a princely ruling family. This format, and the background of an exterior largely closed off by a column the man leans on, was taken up by his main assistant Giovanni Battista Moroni, who painted mainly portraits and was one of the most important portraitists of the mid-16th century.[2]
He was a prominent and pious citizen of the small city of Brescia, belonging to at least two of the most prominent confraternities.[3]
Biography
He was born at
He painted alongside
In the
Il Moretto was stated to have been a man of great personal piety, preparing himself by prayer and fasting for any great act of sacred art, such as the painting of the Virgin-mother.[4]
Public collections
Moretto is represented in the following collections:
Further works
-
Portrait of Fortunato Martinengo Cesaresco, 1542, London, National Gallery
-
The Holy Family with Saint Anthony of Padua, oil on panel.
-
Posthumous portrait of Girolamo Savonarola 1524
Works
- Enthroned Madonna and Child with Saint James the Great and Saint Jerome (1517)
- Christ with the Cross (1518)
- The Dead Christ Adored by Saint Jerome and Saint Dorothy (1520–1521)
- Holy Cross Standard (1520–1521)
- Standard of Our Lady of Mercy (1520–1522)
- Salvation Triptych (1521–1524 or 1527–1528)
- Our Lady of Mount Carmel (c. 1522)
- Assumption of the Virgin (1524–1526)
- Orzinuovi Altarpiece (1525–1530)
- Portrait of a Man (1526)
- Lament over the Dead Christ (1526–1530)
- Sant'Eufemia Altarpiece (1526–1530)
- Supper at Emmaus (c. 1526)
- Madonna and Child with Saint Roch and Saint Sebastian (c. 1528)
- Assumption Altarpiece (1529–1530)
- St Anthony of Padua with Two Saints (1530)
- Saint Anthony Abbot (1530–1534)
- St Justina of Padua with a Donor (c. 1530)
- Madonna and Child with Saint Martin and Saint Catherine (c. 1530)
- Massacre of the Innocents (1531–1532)
- Coronation of the Virgin Altarpiece (c. 1534)
- The Deaf-Mute Filippo Viotti's Vision of the Virgin Mary (c. 1534)
- Annunciation (1535–1540)
- The Assassination of Saint Peter Martyr (1535–1540)
- Portrait of a Gentleman with a Letter (1535–1540)
- Chiesa di San Giovanni Evangelista Organ Case (c. 1535)
- Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints (1536–1537)
- Rovelli Altarpiece (1539)
- Adoration of the Shepherds with Saints Nazarius and Celsus (1540)
- Salomé (1540)
- Madonna and Child with Saints (Verona, 1540)
- Pralboino Altarpiece (1540–1545)
- Christ in Glory with Saint Peter and Saint Paul (c. 1540)
- Christ with the Eucharist and Saints Cosmas and Damian (c. 1540)
- Madonna and Child with Four Doctors of the Church (c. 1540–1545)
- Madonna and Child with Saints (London, c. 1540–1545)
- Madonna and Child with an Angel (c. 1540–1550)
- Christ with Moses and Solomon (1541–1542)
- Portrait of Fortunato Martinengo Cesaresco (1542)
- Luzzago Altarpiece (1542)
- Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine (c. 1543)
- Pentecost (1543–1544)
- Madonna and Child with Four Saints (c. 1543)
- Supper in the House of Simon the Pharisee (1544)
- Portrait of an Ecclesiastic (c. 1545)
- Christ with the Eucharist and Saints Bartholomew and Roch (c. 1545)
- Christ and the Angel (c. 1550)
References
- ^ Penny 2004, pp. 145–147.
- ^ Penny 2004, pp. 154–156.
- ^ Penny 2004, p. 145.
- ^ a b c d public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Moretto, Il". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 18 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 831. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ^ a b Chisholm 1911.
- ^ Freedberg 1993, p. 367.
- ^ a b Freedberg 1993, p. 368.
Sources
- Freedberg, Sydney J. (1993). Painting in Italy, 1500–1600. Penguin Books. pp. 367–373.
- ISBN 0500235104
- OCLC 57388272.
Further reading
- Federico Nicoli Cristiani (1807). Della Vita delle pitture di Lattanzio Gambara; Memorie Storiche aggiuntevi brevi notizie intorno a' più celebri ed eccelenti pittori Bresciani. Spinelli e Valgiti, Brescia. pp. 139–141.
- Painters of reality: the legacy of Leonardo and Caravaggio in Lombardy, an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Brescia (see index)
Media related to Moretto da Brescia at Wikimedia Commons