Santi di Tito

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Portrait of Niccolò Machiavelli by Tito.
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Portrait of Niccolò Machiavelli by Tito.

Santi di Tito (1536 - 1602 or 1603) was an Italian painter of Late-Mannerist or proto-Baroque style, what is sometimes referred to as Contra-Maniera.

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[edit] Biography

Born in Borgo San Sepolcro, in Tuscany. There is little documentation to support the alleged training under Bronzino or Baccio Bandinelli. From 1558-1564, he worked in Rome on frescoes in Palazzo Salviati and the Sala Grande of the Belvedere (Homage of the People) alongside Giovanni de' Vecchi and Niccolò Circignani. He acquired a classical trait, described as Raphaelesque by S.J. Freedburg. This style contrasted with the reigning ornate Roman painterliness of the Federico and Taddeo Zuccari or their Florentine equivalents: Vasari, Alessandro Allori, and Bronzino. Among his pupils was Cigoli.

After returning to Florence in 1564, He joined the Accademia del Disegno, and he did not venture to paint outside of Tuscany. He contributed two unusual paintings for the quirky hobby-room of the duke, the Studiolo. The artisitic project was partly overseen by Giorgio Vasari. These paintings are (the Sisters of Fetonte[1] and Hercules and Iole[2]). These works, like many of those in the studiolo appear to have been a uninspired submission of crowded and overworked scenes.

The Sisters of Phaeton by Santi di Tito for the Studiolo at the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence.
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The Sisters of Phaeton by Santi di Tito for the Studiolo at the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence.

He contributed a Sacra Conversazione for the Ognissanti and painted two altarpieces for Santa Croce in Florence: a crowded, but monumental Resurrection (1570-74) and a proto-Caravaggesque Supper at Emmaus (1574).

His masterpiece, and reflective of his mature style, is of the Vision of Saint Thomas Aquinas, also known as Saint Thomas Dedicating His Works to Christ. It expresses a simple pious gesture that appeared to have been lost from the theoretically-minded Florentine painters since the days of Masaccio, while maintaining the brittle, demarcated color that is classic of Tuscan works. The off-balance of the figures emphasize a diagonal rise towards the crucified Christ. It is a prescient style that will be more evident in following decades with the ascendant Bolognese School of painting, epitomized by the Agostino and Ludovico Carracci.

[edit] Partial anthology of works

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[edit] Paintings

[edit] Architecture

  • Villa Doccia, near Fiesole
  • Villa dei Collazzi, in Giogoli

[edit] References

  • Freedberg, Sydney J. (1993). “Painting in Italy, 1500-1600”, Pelican History of Art, 620-625.
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