Taddeo Crivelli

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Borso Bible (Biblioteca Estense)[1]

Taddeo Crivelli (

engraver
of the first book illustrated with maps, which was also the first book using engraving.

His most prestigious commission was a lavishly illustrated two-volume Bible produced between 1455 and 1461 for

Decameron and a luxurious book of hours
known as the Gualenghi-d'Este Hours.

After Borso's death in 1471 he moved to

pawned
parts of manuscripts he was supposed to illuminate, suggesting his finances were far from stable. His last recorded work dates from 1476.

Biography

Este family's coat of arms

Background and career in Ferrara

He appears to have been born in

pawnbroking transactions of parts of manuscripts he had been engaged to illuminate suggest that his financial situation was far from stable.[3]

From 1455 until 1461, he worked, together with Franco dei Russi, on his most prestigious commission: the miniatures for the luxuriously produced

Borso Bible (as it is sometimes called) is now conserved in the Biblioteca Estense in Modena.[n 1]

Illumination from the Gualenghi-d'Este Hours

Crivelli is known to have completed other major works in Ferrara, at least two of which survive. A 1467 illuminated copy of

Getty Museum.[8]

Although he may have produced larger paintings while in Ferrara,[n 2] none has been found. A record of a pawnbroking transaction of 1472 suggests that he may have left Ferrara abruptly, presumably in the wake of Borso's death in 1471, and perhaps attracted by the patronage of the Bentivoglio family in Bologna.[3][6]

Detail from the Borso Bible, Crivelli's most significant commission. It was produced together with Franco dei Russi, (a member of Crivelli's own circle),[9] to whom this nativity scene has been attributed.

Final years in Bologna

By 1473 Crivelli was working in Bologna with a fellow miniaturist, Domenico Pagliarolo (fl 1471–97), on a

San Petronio, but ended up pawning parts of them (which his patrons later bought back). His last recorded work dates from 1476; by 1479 he is referred to as being dead.[3][6]

Personal life

His wife Margherita bore him three sons and a daughter, Lodovica, who married the painter Lorenzo Costa.[3]

Style

The style of the art-work in the Borso Bible has been linked to the Ferrara school of painting which developed under the influence of Cosmè Tura (and especially to the frescoes that were subsequently painted to decorate the Salone dei mesi in Palazzo Schifanoia).[3] Some of Crivelli's stylistic traits, such as his use of line in representations of clothing and clouds, also suggest Lombard influence. The elaborately decorated miniatures for the Borso Bible are characterized by saturated colouring and rich costumes that would seem to comply with Borso's luxurious tastes. Architectural spaces are rendered by means of false perspective.[6]

Notes and references

Notes

  1. Enciclopedia Italiana, who restored it to its current home in the Biblioteca Estense in Modena.[5]
  2. ^ This supposition is based on a letter from Borso requesting the execution of a small painting (quadretto) by Crivelli.[2]

References

  1. ^ "Bibbia di Borso d'Este". Bollettino d'Arte (in Italian) (144). Rome: Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali. April–June 2008.
  2. ^ a b Barstow, p. 31
  3. ^ a b c d e Lijuba, Eleen (1985). "Crivelli, Taddeo (Taddeo da Ferrara)". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (in Italian). Vol. 31. Rome: Treccani.
  4. ^ a b c Barstow, p. 32
  5. ^ a b c Rosenberg, Charles M. "Bible of Borso d'Este". Grove Art Online, Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. (subscription required)
  6. ^ a b c d Rosenberg, Charles M. "Crivelli, Taddeo". Grove Art Online, Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. (subscription required)
  7. ^ Melograni, Anna (April–June 2008). "Quanto costa la magnificenza? Il caso della "Bibia bella" di Borso d'Este". Bollettino d'Arte (in Italian) (144). Rome: Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali: 7–24. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
  8. ^ Barstow, p. 8
  9. ^ Gruyer, Gustave (1897). L'art ferrarais à l'époque des princes d'Este (in French). E. Plon, Nourrit et Company. pp. 424–426. taddeo crivelli.
  10. ISBN 0300068832; Crone, G.R., review of Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. A Series of Atlases in Facsimile, The Geographical Journal, Vol. 130, No. 4 (Dec., 1964), pp. 577-578, Published by: The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), Article DOI: 10.2307/1792324, JSTOR
  11. ISBN 0226907228, 9780226907222, google books
  12. ^ "MS. Holkham misc. 49: Boccaccio, Decameron, Ferrara, c. 1467; illuminated by Taddeo Crivelli for Teofilo Calcagnini". Bodleian Library, University of Oxford. 2000–2003. Retrieved 18 December 2013.

Sources

  • Barstow, Kurt (2000). The Gualenghi-d'Este Hours: Art and Devotion in Renaissance Ferrara. Los Angeles: Getty Publications.
    ISBN 978-0-89236-370-4
    .

Further reading

External links

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