A little Christmas present-angel artist to get to know

Part 1 - 1304 to 1486

Giotto di Bondone

was born in Vespignano near Florence in 1266, he died on January 8, 1337, also in Florence.

The Italian painter was probably the most important pioneer for the Renaissance in Italy , because of its outstanding celebrity, he is usually only "Giotto" .

From sources such as the Commentarii of Lorenzo Ghibertis created around 1450 you know a lot about him. The son of a Florentine blacksmith is said to have been discovered by a painter when hating and drawing his sheep. The artists of the time were amazed at his talent, according to the ideas of the Renaissance, artistic geniuses were born as a genius.

Giotto soon received orders in Florence and became Pope Benedict XII. brought to Rome , where he worked for 10 years, he also worked for King Robert von Naples. So he became famous as an architect and sculptor and poet, and he is said to have had great material success.

From 1320 he maintained an economically successful workshop in Florence, in 1334 he became Florentine cathedral builder, he died in 1337 during his work, in the Bargello chapel in Florence (at work on the "Last Court" ).

Giotto is said to have painted so deceptively that friends wanted to search them, since then the fly has been a symbol of artistic progress . The legend also became “Giotto's O” , a full -handed, perfect circle, which he is said to have presented as a sample of the Pope's emissary.

Actually, the founder of Italian painting only treated religious topics. However, this is unusually natural and lively, with the use of new colors and with first notes from perspective, as with the famous "Ognissanti-Madonna" in the Uffizi, the only greater panel picture of Giotto.

Giotto is mentioned in Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy" and in Boccaccios "Decamerone" , Petrarca owned him, Michelangelo took him as a model, and the European space probe, which rose in 1985 to explore the comet Halley, also bears his name (with reason, Giotto is said to have painted in a fresco cycle).

The angel in the advent calendar was eventually built between 1304 and 1306. The large fresco cycle in the Scrovegni chapel in Padua , which includes the angel, is considered the main work.

 

Hubert van Eyck

was born around 1370 in Maaseyck (at Maastricht) and died on September 18, 1426 in Bruges.

The Flemish painter is mysterious, very little is known about his life; One only knows that he wrote down in Ghent in Ghent in the religious cooperative of the "Maria with the rays" in Ghent.

Hubert van Eyck was famous for a long time through the "Genter Altar" (wing altar in the Sankt Bavo-Cathedral Gent, 1432 or 1435), which he is said to have created together with his brother Jan van Eyck.

Hubert van Eyck's great fame is based on an inscription on the Genter Altar, which says:

Pictor Hubertur Eeyck. Maior Quo Nemo Repertus
Incepit. Pondus. Que Johannes Arte Secundus
(frater) Perfecit. Judoci Vijd Prece Fretus
Versv Sexta Mai. VOS Collocat Acta Tveri

For the non-Latin among us: "Painter Hubert van Eyck, there was no bigger one, started this work and his brother Johannes, the second in this art, has completed the difficult task on behalf of Jodocus Vijd. Through these verses, he trusts your care what was created on May 6th."

For some years now, however, it has been almost certain that this is more about one of the first big art scandals: Jan van Eyck was hardly the brother of Hubert van Eyck, because he comes from Bruges and not from Ghent (Hubert also not, but he was known as a painter in Ghent).

When Albrecht Dürer visited the altar around 1530, after his observation, no trace of an inscription was to be seen that he was right, it was proven in 1950 by an X -ray examination. In 1979, infrared reflectography showed that even and exclusively Jan van Eyck signed on the altar.

The motifs for the disparagement of poor Jan van Eyck and his wonderful legacy to posterity should be found in the local patriotism of the gent of the 16th century. Because Jan van Eyck was a trainee, and a "Zuagroasda" still has problems somewhere else (the author, Berliner, does not mean Bayern, she loves Bavaria and has never had any problems there and would never comment on Bavarian affairs, but the word is so nice).

 

In any case, Bruges and Ghent have been competing for the cultural preservation for a long time, and the genters are said to have liked to use the random names of the name in order to push the “Hubert” artwork that has become famous in the meantime. This thesis comes from a well -known German art historian and is largely recognized by us whether Ghent and Bruges are still arguing today, the author is not known, but is hard to assume.

If you want to judge yourself, here you could look at and compare some pictures of Hubert van Eyck on the web, whereby in addition to pictures from the Genter altar, not too many can be found ...

The angels of December 8th and 10 were created by Hubert van Eyck/Jan van Eyck, "musicians" and a "proclamation angel" from the Genter Altar.

Gentile da fabriano

was born in Fabriano around 1370 and died in Rome in 1427.

You don't know very much about the life of the Firaiissance painter have been Allegretto Nuzi Since it is said to have lived from 1315/20 to approx. 1373, probably not very long.

Gentile "Da Fabriano" is similar to Anton "from Tyrol", because Gentile is actually called and even melodious Gentile di Nicolò Massio.

Gentile worked in his hometown until the turn of the century. In 1408/1409 he was spotted in Venice, where he was supposed to decorate a dog palace with frescoes, whose completion he left to his students Pisanello.

Gentile da Fabriano should prefer to in Brescia for Pandolfo III. Malatesta worked, a mercenary leader about whom the network knows how to report a lot of interesting things, e.g. B. over the crusade to the Holy Land, which he led until 1402, his burial jacket and his kidney stone disease excavated in 2011.

From about 1420, Gentile da Fabriano worked in Florence, e.g. B. for the Strozzi family on a chapel in the Santa Trinita church (most important panel picture: "Adoration of the Three Kings" with a very vivid representation of the figures). For the Quarantesi family of merchant, he created the Quaratesi polypychon at the main altar of San Niccolò Sopr'arno in Florence in 1425. In 1422 he was admitted to the painting suicide in Florence, after an interlude in Siena, he followed the call of Pope Martin V to Rome around 1426.

cycle with frescoes from John the Baptist in the Lateran Basilica (Bischofskirche von Rome),

Gentile da Fabriano is known to posterity as the most important Italian representative of the "International Gothic" , and through his famous students Pisanello and Jacopo Bellini . The angel of December 3 is part of the panel picture: "Adoration of the Three Kings" for the family band of the Strozzi banking family.

 

Melchior Broederlam

Was born before 1380 and probably lived until about 1410.

Melchior Broederlam (or Broederlain) was a Flemish painter of the Gothic, about whose life we ​​live very little.

What is certain is that between 1381 and 1409 he was in Philipp's Kühnen, Duke of Burgundy, in Ypres, and that was actually it.

The only work that left us Broederlam are two wings of an altar for the Chartreuse de Champmol, a caretonia monastery in Dijon in Burgundy, which was founded to accommodate the dukes of Burgundy.

When Broederlam arrived, the construction had been working more than 250 workers from different regions and all building works for years, and 1390 the sculptures on the retails had already been commissioned at Jacques de Baerze, and in 1391 they were delivered to Ypres.

Melchior Broederlam was busy with the paintings on the retables from 1393 to 1399, and in 1399 they were set up in the chartreuse. On the altar there were/are the "proclamation" and the "vision of Mary" , the "presentation in the temple" and the "escape of the Holy family to Egypt" .

In addition to the time in Ypres, Melchior Broederlam 1389 and 1399 are said to have worked in Dijon and 1390 and 1395 in Paris, however, certificates can no longer be found. The angel of December 18 belongs to the left wing of the altar, which Melchior Broederlam designed the bold for Philipp.

Fra Angelico

was born in 1387 (between 1386 and 1400) in Vicchio di Mugello near Florence and died on February 18, 1455 in Rome.

The painter of the Italian early Renaissance is well blessed. He was born as Guido (Guidolino) di Pietro. With his religious vow, he took the name Giovanni (brother Johannes), which his contemporaries provided with the characteristic addition of Fiesole (city near Vicchio, Florence district).

Giorgio Vasari, Italian architect, court painter of Medici and one of the first art historians who wrote about the life and work of Leonardo da Vincis , Raffaels and Michelangelos and also about Fra Giovanni, Fra Giovanni already called Fra Giovanni Angelico (the heavenly, angelic) in his biography before 1555. Perpit even talks about Il Beato Fra Angelico (the happy, blessed heavenly brother) - in the case of an order brother, no praise of special talent, but from the way in which FRA Angelico represented his Christian motifs.

In 1982 Pope John Paul II actually spoke blessed , and at that time he had long been known as a patron saint of Christian artists.

Nothing is known about Fra Angelico's parents, the earliest surviving testimony about him is a document from 1417 that shows accession to a religious brotherhood and his works as a painter, which also results from two receipts from 1418, issued for payment for artistic work in the Church of Santo Del Ponte, Sestri Levante, Liguria.

As a brother of the Dominican Order, Fra Giovanni, he was first mentioned in 1423. an illuminator (book painter) among the Dominicans and is said to have worked with his brother Benedetto, also Dominican. His teachers are unknown, the first works are not preserved.

Fra Angelico moved from Liguria back to the south, beyond Fiesole, from 1408 to 1418 he lived in Cortona in Tuscany in the Dominican convention and made frescoes in the church. Vasari later mentions an altar secretable and a painted Lettner in a Florentine carus core church.

Around 1420 Fra Angelico went back to Fiesole, into the San Domenico monastery, where he set up a workshop and created a polyptych for the high altar of the monastery church. In 1436 his order moved to the former Salvestrin monastery San Marco in Florence, where manuscripts are preserved that FRA Angelico is said to have made. He is also attributed to numerous pictures in the cells and cloister.

In 1445 the call to Rome came, where Fra Angelico on behalf of Pope Eugen IV. The chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento (no longer exists) decorated with frescoes. On behalf of Pope Nikolaus V. he was on behalf of Cappella Niccolina Fresken, that was between 1447 and 1449, Benozzo Gozzoli worked with him.

From 1449 to 1452, Fra Angelico then acted as a prior of the Dominican monastery in Fiesole. Then he returned to Rome, where he died in 1455 and was buried in the church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva. The angel on the entrance side is the "proclamation" FRA Angelico, from the main panel of an altar rehearsal created around 1433 to life.

 

Master of the Wilton Diptychon

Is recognizable an emergency name because we don't know anything about this master.

He lived between 1395 and 1399 how far before and how long afterwards is unknown. It is only known that he lived between 1395 and 1399 because the Wilton Diptychon was assigned by scientific examination of this time of origin. Diptychons are two -part paintings, the triptych in three parts is known in the sacred area, a frequent altarpiece.

It is known that the diptych of King Richard II of England (1367 - 1400) was commissioned, on the outside (back) the coat of arms of Richard II can be seen. And his really decorative emblem, a white deer with a crown collar and chain.

On the front of the diptych , client Richard II presented, on the left wing, modestly small and kneeling. Behind him are three saints, identifiable by their attributes as John the Baptist (recognizable by the fur soil and lamb on the arm, Richard's name patron); The English king Eduard of the Confessions, 1004 to 1066, 1161 because of his emphatic efforts for sick subjects (after the legend including miracle healing), and Edmund of Eastern Banglia or Edmund the martyrs, around 841 - 869, who is worshiped in a battle against attacking Danes as a martyr and saint.

Both can be recognized by their ermine coats and the crowns on the heads, Eduard The Confessor bears his attributes bear, tree, arrow and wolf, they can be recognized on the coat and in his hand, Edmund the martyr is mostly depicted in royal robes with a ring (symbol of the Christians) and pigeon (symbol for the Holy Spirit and Peace), at least the ring is on the diptych see.

The three saints support Richard II in his concern to preserve the Madonna blessing, which can be seen on the right wing. She holds the child of Jesus in her hands that bless the kneeling king, both are surrounded by the eleven angels. These angels have some symbols with them, on the left high up an angel has the flag fluttering with the Sankt George Cross, which has been considered the flag of England (St. Georg) and still forms the middle of the Union Jack since the 13th century.

The small ball with which the flagpole ends is a symbol of a globe, only people with good eyes find the small island of England, which is shown on it. The emblem Richard II, the white deer, was also embroidered onto the angels, and the floral meadow floor under the Madonna and the angels sprinkles with the roses, iris and daisy, which at the same time symbolize paradise.

All of these symbols should tell us that King Richard II was lent with England by the Christ child. In the sign of the at the time of the omnipresent dispute, whether the secular ruler or the Church is due to the dominance, a double -edged symbolism: either Richard wanted to say that he leans over the divine power and was certain of divine approval, or he wanted to clarify the other way around that the claim of the crown is "godly".

Nothing was saved when the diptych was made, the representations are applied on a gold -plated surface, which are decorated with artistic tuners, the frame is also gilded, even the hooks and eyelets with which the foldable boards could be closed. But the Wilton Diptychon is not very large, each wing measures 47.5 × 29.2 cm, which is only a bit larger than a DIN A3 sheet.

The picture is called Wilton-Diptychon because it was temporarily belonging to the Earl of Pembroke, who kept it from 1705 to 1929 in his "Wilton House", in 1929 it was acquired by the National Gallery in London and can still be admired there today. The angels of December 11th show the wonderful work of the master of the Wilton Diptych.

Benozzo Gozzoli

was born in Florence in 1420 and died in Pistoia near Florence in 1497.

The Italian Renaissance painter was born di Sandro as the son of the tailor and when Benozzo di reading di Sandro; Why he was called Gozzoli can only be assumed, and did not necessarily have charming reasons: Gozzo is the goiter in Italian, or the unfathomable throat, the (swollen) abdomen, the (thick) abdomen, with such a name, the trivialization with Gozzoli doesn't help much ...

Gozzoli learned from Fra Angelico, whom he accompanied to Rome 1446/1447 to 1449, where he helped in the Nicholas chapel of the Vatican Palace (Cappella Niccolina) to paint frescoes for Pope Nikolaus V.

Then Benozzo Gozzoli worked in Montefalco and made z. B. a "Ascension of the Maria" , a painting that is now in the Pinakothek in the Vatican. In 1452 Benozzo Gozzoli painted a fresco cycle in the church of San Francesco in Montefalco about the legend around St. Francis.

Around 1456 he went to Florence, known that he worked for the Medici from 1459 to 1461, he decorated the chapel of the Palazzo Medici with frescoes. From 1463 to 1464, Gozzoli painted a fresco cycle with 17 scenes from the life of St. Augustine to the Church of Sant 'Agostino in San Gimignano, Tuscany.

From around 1468 he lived in Pisa, where he made his main work: a series of 25 frescoes with scenes from the Old Testament, at the Camposanto Monumumentale cemetery, Gozzoli worked for around 15 years on the cycle, until 1483 or 1485. What he did afterwards is unknown, only that he returned to the home region, died there at the age of 77 was buried.

Benozzo Gozzoli then became famous by some blackbird pictures that have been preserved for posterity: "Madonna with four saints" from 1456 (Galleria Nazionale Dell'umbria in Perugia), "Throning Madonna with four saints" from 1461 (National Gallery London), "Dance of Salome" (National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC) and "Triumph from Saint Thomas Aquino" (Paris, Louvre).

And through a nickname of the Italians for a person who hypocrisies, "Fignosa di Pisa" is called such a person there, presumably after Benozzo Gozzoli's painting "Weinles and drunkenness" (Camposanto in Pisa), in which the drunk and trapped Noah is viewed by his daughter by his daughter.

However, this origin of the expression is not quite sure, "Noah in the frenzy" is a popular motif at the time, probably the fellow human beings had great understanding of how difficult it is to accommodate all types on a ship. The "ad worms" of December 7 were created by Benozzo Gozzoli.

 

Friedrich Herlin

was born around 1450 in southern Germany, presumably in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, he died around 1500 in Nördlingen.

We don't know much about the late Gothic painter , except that he worked in Rothenburg whether the Tauber and lived in Nördlingen from 1459. It has been handed down that he received the Nördlingen civil rights in 1467 and died there, at some point around 1500. And that he was the father -in -law of the well -known Ulm painter Bartholomäus Zeitblom , at least for a while, because a second marriage has been handed down for time block, with a daughter of Ulm painter Hans Schüchlin.

Works from Friedrich Herlin can be found in southern Germany: in the Jakobskirche in Rothenburg wings on the high altar with representations from Marienleben, around 1466, in the city church of St. Blasius in Bopfingen two altar wings with the "birth of Christ" and the "Adoration of the Kings" from 1472, in the St. Bonifatiuskirche in Emmendinge, three altar wings, " Christi , "Adoration of the Kings" and "Circumcision" from 1473 and in St. Georg, the city church of Nördlingen, a triptych donated by the Nördlinger innkeeper Jakob Fuchshart and his stepsmans.

Herlin became more known as Roger's van der Weyden's successor (in which he is said to have learned) as famous for independent style and expression. Only a realistic representation of the reading apostle Peter with a grinder has gained a certain public celebrity because the viewers find them very amusing and the image of glasses is interesting for art and cultural historians. The angel in the calendar represents the "adoration of the Christ child" in Friedrich Herlin's "Birth of Christ" .

Filippino Lippi

was born in Prato in Tuscany around 1457 and died in Florence in 1504.

Filippino Lippi was called Filippo in his time and was never called differently, the "Filippino" later gave him the art historians in order to distinguish him from his also artistic and also famous father.

The FRA Filippo Lippi was called (or Fra Lippo Lippi), and it was also called Fra Filippo Tommaso Lippi with a full name, but now it has happened for a long time, and you can and should be better remembered as Filippino Lippi, he is always advertised like this.

Filippino Lippi's life already started quite exciting: Because his father Fra Filippo Tommaso Lippi was really called Fra Filippo Tommaso Lippi, with emphasis on FRA - because he lost mother and father as a child, he entered Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence at the age of 14, so it was a brother.

He only stayed there until 1432, but is not said to have been released from his vow, and biographer Giorgio Vasari knows how to tell Fra Filippos of romantic adventures (however, today's biographer). In any case, Filippo is said to have settled in Prato in 1456 to paint the frescoes in the choir of the cathedral.

Before the start of this work, he is said to have started a picture for the San Margherita convent chapel in Prato in 1458 and got to know Lucrezia Buti, beautiful woman, but probably also a novice. Lucrezia sat Filippo model, and he burned with her, the result was Filippino ...

This Filippino also wanted to become a painter, he learned in his father's painting workshop and after his death in 1469 with his friend with the beautiful name Fra Don Diamante. Sandro Botticelli is also said to have been an apprentice in the father's painting workshop, Filippino Lippi worked for him from 1472, his early work is said to show influences from Botticelli's painting and Flemish painting.

1482 to 1484, Filippino Lippi worked in the Brancacci chapel of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence, he completed the frescoes of Masaccios there. Fresque painting became his specialty, Lorenzo I. de Medici its main clerk in Florence .

In between, Filippino Lippi kept in Rome to study antiquity, and 1489 to 1493 he painted in Rome, in the Roman Church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva he created the frescoes of the Carafa chapel. Filippino Lippi also created the Renaissance angel of December 14th, which can now be admired in Washington DC in the National Gallery of Art

 

Carlo Crivelli

was probably born in Venice around 1430/1435 and died in 1500 in the region of Marche.

We don't know much about Carlo Crivelli as the above dates of the birth indicate. However, the painter encourages research, once through his outstanding work, which has survived in an unusually large number of works of art to us, and then through the fact that he left us documents and numerous signatures on his works, from which his life can be composed as in a kind of puzzle. The following was found:

Carlo Crivelli was born the son of the painter Iachobus de Chriveris, who lived in Venice in the parish of San Moisè. He had a younger brother Vittore and maybe another brother named Ridolfo Dal Ricci. Crivelli must have been born between 1430 and 1435 because he was sentenced to six months in prison and 200 Lire fines on March 7, 1457, and he had to have been of legal age.

He got the punishment for the kidnapping of the wife of a Venetian sailor in which he had fallen in love, this adultery was a scandal and probably the reason why Crivelli left Venice and never returned there.

Crivelli was probably an apprentice with Antonio Vivarini, Giovanni d´Alemagna and Bartolomeo Vivarini, who familiarized him with contemporary Paduan painting. This shaped his early work, but not a single preserved from the early works from Venice.

After the arrest in 1457, the artist went to Padua, became friends with Giorgio Schiavone and followed him to Zara in Dalmatia, then under Venetian rule. From there, Crivelli went into the brands, where he got into the next conflict and process in Ascoli in 1469, but also Malte, e.g. B. the altarpiece Polittico di Porto San Giorgio for the Church of San Giorgio. The dispute went out well, in 1473 Crivelli was settled in Ascoli, married and painted altarpieces, also in the surrounding cities.

Crivelli, as an advanced artist, dared some innovations, a new structure of the altarpiece, for example, so maybe his orders from outside. In his last years of life, Crivelli was constantly on the way between Camerino, Matelica, Fabriano and Pergola.

He was awarded the title "Miles" by Ferdinando di Aragona, Prince of Capua and future King of Naples, with whom he has signed his works since then. Through this honorary title, he got into politically justified difficulties, which is why he moved from place to place in his last years. Crivelli is said to die in Fermo and buried in the church of San Francesco, it is certainly not, Ascoli and many other places are also mentioned.

What is certain, however, was that Carlo Crivelli was one of the first painters who developed a completely independent visual language, fascinating and having an urgent effect. He preferred to paint decorations and magnificent ornaments, but also inserted surprising elements such as cucumbers that make his works almost surrealistic.

Carlo Crivelli's angel of December 5th was built in 1486, shows a detail from "Maria Announcement" , and actually contains a cucumber, lots of fun searching!