Bartolomeo Passante or Bassante (1618 – 1648) was an Italian painter of the Baroque era active in Naples.

Life

He was born in Brindisi. He reached

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

in 1629, where he probably studied under

Jusepe de Ribera Jusepe de Ribera (1591 – 1652) was a painter and printmaker, who along with Francisco de Zurbarán, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, and the singular Diego Velázquez, are regarded as the major artists of Spanish Baroque painting. Referring to ...

(according to

Bernardo De Dominici Bernardo de' Dominici or Bernardo De Dominici (13 December 1683 – c. 1759) was an Italian art historian and painter of the late-Baroque period, active mainly in Naples. As a painter he was known for his landscapes, marine vedute and genre scene ...

), but according to other documents he frequently attended the studio of a certain Pietro Beato, marrying Beato's niece Angela Formichella in 1636. De Dominici saw his style as almost identical with that of Ribera, but modern critics find his style so different from Ribera's that it is thought to be close to that of

Massimo Stanzione Massimo Stanzione (also called Stanzioni; 1585 – 1656) was an Italian Baroque painter, mainly active in Naples, where he and his rival Jusepe de Ribera dominated the painting scene for several decades. He was primarily a painter of altarpiece ...

and Agostino Beltrano, whom he probably also studied under during his time with Beato. He died in Naples.

Works

There are two signed works by Passante - ''The Adoration of the Shepherds'' at The Prado and a ''Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine'' in a private collection in Naples. ''Saint Sebastian Tended by Pious Women'' (London), ''Holy Family with Saint Joseph Sleeping'' (private collection, Causa), a large ''Adoration of the Shepherds'' (in a Swedish church - perhaps the painting cited by De Dominici as being in the church of

San Giacomo degli Spagnoli Nostra Signora del Sacro Cuore ("Our Lady of the Sacred Heart", also known as San Giacomo degli Spagnoli and in Spanish, Santiago de los Españoles) is a Catholic church dedicated to the Virgin Mary located in Rome's Piazza Navona. History An ...

in Naples according to Giuliano Briganti), a ''Saint Catherine of Alexandria'' ( Palazzo Madama, Turin) and a ''Triumph'' (private collection in Rome) are all also attributed to him for stylistic reasons. At the

São Paulo Museum of Art The São Paulo Museum of Art ( pt, Museu de Arte de São Paulo, or ') is an art museum located on Paulista Avenue in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. It is well known for its headquarters, a 1968 concrete and glass structure designed by Lina Bo B ...

there's another Adoration of the Shepherds attributed to him. SpinosaNicola Spinosa, ''Bartolomeo Bassante. Santa Caterina d'Alessandria'', in ''Civiltà del Seicento a Napoli'', exhibition catalogue, Napoli 1984, scheda n. 2.5, p. 189 argued that Passante is to be identified with the

Master of the Annunciation to the Shepherds The Master of the Annunciation to the Shepherds was an anonymous master active in Naples, around 1620-1640. The Master's body of work was first identified by August L Mayer in the 1920s and connected to a group of works depicting the Annuncia ...

- the latter was active in Naples in the mid 17th century. This is no longer held to be plausible given Passante's short lifespan and was based on an assumption that he survived until the mid 17th century, now disproved by a document dating his death to 1648.

References

Bibliography

, ''Vite dei Pittori, Scultori, ed Architetti Napolitani'' (3 volumes), Stamperia del Ricciardi, Napoli 1742 *Raffaello Causa, ''La pittura del Seicento a Napoli dal naturalismo al barocco'', in ''Storia di Napoli'', Napoli 1972, pp. 974; *Nicola Spinosa, ''Bartolomeo Bassante. Santa Caterina d'Alessandria'', in ''Civiltà del Seicento a Napoli'', exhibition catalogue, Napoli 1984, scheda n. 2.5, p. 189; *

Giuliano Briganti Giuliano Briganti (2 January 1918 – 17 December 1992) was an Italian art historian. Biography Giuliano Briganti was born in Rome. His father, Aldo Briganti, was an art dealer. Aldo studied under Igino Benvenuto Supino, graduated from the Unive ...

, ''Bartolomeo Bassante (?). Santa Caterina d'Alessandria'', in G. Romano (ed.), ''Da Biduino ad Algardi. Pittura e scultura a confronto'', Torino 1990, scheda n. 13, pp. 154–157; *Ferdinando Bologna, ''Battistello Caracciolo e il primo naturalismo a Napoli'', Napoli 1991, scheda n. 2.90, pp. 321–322; *Francesco Abbate, ''Storia dell'arte nell'Italia meridionale'', IV: Il secolo d'oro, Roma 2002, pp. 77–79. *Giuseppe Porzio, ''La Scuola di Ribera : Giovanni Dò, Bartolomeo Passante'', Enrico Fiammingo, Napoli, Arte'm, 2014. {{DEFAULTSORT:Passante, Bartolomeo 1618 births 1648 deaths 17th-century Italian painters Italian male painters Italian Baroque painters Painters from Naples