Gaudenzio Ferrari

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Glory of Angels, in Santa Maria dei Miracoli, Saronno.
Glory of Angels, in Santa Maria dei Miracoli, Saronno.

Gaudenzio Ferrari (c. 1471 - January 11, 1546) was a Northern Italian painter and sculptor of the Renaissance.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Gaudenzio was born at Valduggia, Piedmont, and allegedly learned painting at Vercelli from Girolamo Giovenone. He next studied in Milan, in the school of Scotto, and some say of Bernardino Luini; towards 1504 he proceeded to Florence, and afterwards (it used to be alleged) to Rome. He ultimately died in Milan. He is not family of either of two Northern Italian painters of the same name, the Piedmontese Defendente Ferrari (c1490-1535) and the Vercelli native Eusebio Ferrari (1508-33).

[edit] Mature Work

His initial pictorial style may be considered as derived mainly from the old Milanese school, which had imbibed the classic influence of Da Vinci and pupils such as Bramantino. However, the provincial impetus was also strong, as is demonstrated in his emotive work at Varallo.

By 1513, Gaudenzio had depicted Christ's Passion in a fresco at Santa Maria della Grazie in Varallo. Her returned to work in the chapels of Sacro Monte in Varallo by 1524 [1]. The chapels are dispersed over a hilltop sanctuary, connected by a winding path, and containing a combination of diorama and wax museum[2] with life-size terracotta figures[3]. He executed his most memorable work, a fresco of theCrucifixion, with a multitude of figures, no less than twenty-six of them being modelled in actual relief, and colored; on the vaulted ceiling are lamenting angels. The figures include goitrous bestial assailants [4].

There are other works which show flashes of innovation such as the crowded chorus decorating duomo of Santa Maria dei Miracoli in Saronno or his fresco of St Anne[5]. This painting shows the overlap of Milanese realism and Venetian colorism.

He was a very prolific painter, distinguished by strong animation. In general character, his work suggests more to the 15th than the 16th century. His subjects were always of the sacred order. Besides his pLanini already mentioned, Andrea Solario, Giambattista della Cerva, Gian Paolo Lomazzo, and Fermo Stella were his principal students.

[edit] Selected works

  • Pietà, in the Royal Gallery, Turin
  • St Catharine Miraculously Saved from the Torture of the Wheel, Brera Gallery, Milan,
  • Frescoes in church of Santa Maria della Pace.
  • Virgin with Angels and Saints under an Orange Tree, Cathedral, Vercelli
  • Last Supper, Refectory of San Paolo.
  • Birth of the Virgin, Annunciation, Visitation, Adoration of the Shepherds and Kings, Crucifixion, Assumption of the Virgin (1532-1535), Church of San Cristoforo.
  • St Paul Meditating, Louvre, Paris.
  • Presentation in the Temple, Christ among the Doctors, History of Christ (1507), convent of the Minorites, Varallo.
  • Adoration (after 1527), Santa Maria di Loreto, near Varallo
  • Glory of Angels (1535), Dome of the Santa Maria dei Miracoli, Saronno
  • Scourging of Christ, Ecce Homo and Crucifixion (1542), Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan.

[edit] External Links

  • 8.6GP Scan of the Parete Gaudenziana[6]. Also what is believed to be the largest digital photo in the world.
  • This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
  • Freedberg, Sydney J. (1993). in Pelican History of Art: Painting in Italy, 1500-1600, pp392-397. 

[edit] References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ (Freedburg,p393)
  3. ^ [2]
  4. ^ [3]
  5. ^ [4]
  6. ^ [5]