Antonio Vivarini (Antonio of Murano) (active c. 14401480) was an Italian painter of the early
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
-late Gothic period, who worked mostly in the
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, ...
. He is probably the earliest of a family of painters, which was descended from a family of glassworkers active in
Murano
Murano is a series of islands linked by bridges in the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy. It lies about north of Venice and measures about across with a population of just over 5,000 (2004 figures). It is famous for its glass making. It was on ...
. The painting dynasty included his younger brother
Bartolomeo and Antonio's son
Alvise Vivarini
Alvise or Luigi Vivarini (1442/1453–1503/1505) was an Italian painter, the leading Venetian artist before Giovanni Bellini. Like Bellini, he was part of a dynasty of painters. His father was Antonio Vivarini and his uncle, with whom he may ha ...
.
Life
He initially trained with
Andrea da Murano
Andrea da Murano, also known as Andrea di Giovanni (active 1463 to 1502) was an Italian painter, active mainly in Venice and the Venetian mainland.
Polyptych Gallerie dell'Accademia
Biography
In 1468, he was given, along with Bartolomeo Vivar ...
, and his works show the influence of
Gentile da Fabriano
Gentile da Fabriano ( – 1427) was an Italian painter known for his participation in the International Gothic painter style. He worked in various places in central Italy, mostly in Tuscany. His best-known works are his ''Adoration of the Magi'' ...
. The earliest known date of a picture of his, an altar-piece in the
Accademia is 1440; the latest, in the
Vatican Museums
The Vatican Museums ( it, Musei Vaticani; la, Musea Vaticana) are the public museums of the Vatican City. They display works from the immense collection amassed by the Catholic Church and the papacy throughout the centuries, including several of ...
, 1464, but he appears to have been alive in 1470.
[
He collaborated with his brother in law, ]Giovanni d'Alemagna
Giovanni d'Alemagna (; born Johannes Alamanus; 9 July 1450) was a Venetian renaissance painter of German ancestry, active in Italy, with his brother-in-law Antonio Vivarini on religious paintings in Venice and Padua, that are preserved in the ...
(also known as "Joannes de Alemania"), who sometimes has been regarded as a brother (Giovanni of Murano). No trace of this painter exists of a date later than 1447. After 1447 Antonio painted either alone or in combination with his younger brother Bartolommeo in Padua
Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...
. The works of Antonio are well drawn for their epoch, with a certain noticeable degree of softness, and with good flesh and other tints. He was probably influenced by Mantegna, and worked with him in the Ovetari Chapel
The Ovetari Chapel (Italian: ''Cappella Ovetari'') is a chapel in the right arm of the Church of the Eremitani in Padua. It is renowned for a Renaissance fresco cycle by Andrea Mantegna and others, painted from 1448 to 1457. The cycle was destroyed ...
in 1450–51. It is sometimes difficult to assign authorship for works from the Vivarini studio.
Three of his principal paintings are the ''Enthroned Madonna Virgin with the Four Doctors of the Church'', the ''Coronation of the Virgin'' and ''Saints Peter and Jerome''. The first two (in which Giovanni co-operated) are in the Venetian academy, the third in the National Gallery, London
The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...
.[
Though Alvise developed an interest in spatial coherence and solid form towards the end of the century, the Vivarini workshop, overall, continued to embody a traditional Gothic-influential approach for much longer.]
References
External links
*
''Italian Paintings, Venetian School''
a collection catalog containing information about Vivarini and his works (see index; plates 100-101).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vivarini, Antonio
1480 deaths
15th-century Italian painters
Italian male painters
Painters from Venice
People from Murano