Gentile da Fabriano

Gentile da Fabriano (actually Gentile di Nicolò Massio, * about 1370 or 1385 in Fabriano, † August 1, 1427 in Rome) was an Italian painter of the early Renaissance.

Curriculum vitae

Gentile da Fabriano was probably a pupil of Allegretto Nuzi. Towards the end of the century he was in his hometown of action to 1408/ 09 in Venice, later in Brescia for Pandolfo III. Malatesta, Florence ( where he was inducted into the painters' guild in 1422 ), Siena and finally in Rome. In 1409 he was commissioned to adorn the Doge's Palace in Venice with frescoes (completion by Pisanello ).

His most important panel painting is Adoration of the Magi for the chapel of the Strozzi family in the church of Santa Trinita in Florence ( see Fig.) Gentile united here naive narrative pleasure with courtly elegance and richness of detail; the sculptural design of the figures is characteristic of the turn of the late Gothic to Renaissance. Also characteristic of the Predellatafeln Quaratesi - polyptych are ( to 1425) with scenes from the life of St. Nicholas of Bari (see Figure below ). To 1426 he followed the request of Pope Martin V. and began a cycle in the church of San Giovanni in Laterano in Rome with frescoes depicting the life of John the Baptist, and in the window spaces with figures of prophets ( also completed by Pisanello ). The only preserved by him fresco image is in the cathedral of Orvieto. Outside Italy there are only very few works Gentiles.

His most elegant style had in the aftermath great influence on the Florentine painter and was the counterpart to the barren realism that Masaccio used.

Gentile da Fabriano was the first in the series of brilliant painters of Umbria and the most important Italian representative of the direction, which is called " International Gothic ". Among his students important artists such as Pisanello or Jacopo Bellini.

Selections

• Madonna and Child with Saints Catherine and Nicholas, as well as the founder to 1390-95, wood, 131 × 113 cm. (Berlin, Staatliche Museen, Gemäldegalerie )
• Madonna and Child, c.1410, wood, 96,8 x59 cm. (Perugia, Galleria Nazionale dell 'Umbria )
• Mary with the Child, 1415, wood, 60x45 cm. (Pisa, Museo Nazionale di San Matteo )
• Adoration of the Magi, signed and dated May 1423, wood, Overall size: 182 × 227 cm, part of the Pala Strozzi. (Florence, Uffizi )
• Mary with the Child, 1427, wood, 110,4 x66, 3 cm. ( Velletri, Diocesan Museum )
• Mary with the Child, 1425, Fresco, 225 x 125 cm. ( Orvieto, Cathedral )