Carlo Crivelli (

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

, c. 1430 –

Ascoli Piceno Ascoli Piceno (; la, Asculum; dialetto ascolano: Ascule) is a town and ''comune'' in the Marche region of Italy, capital of the province of the same name. Its population is around 46,000 but the urban area of the city has more than 93,000. Geo ...

, c. 1495) was an Italian

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 ...

painter of conservative Late Gothic decorative sensibility, who spent his early years in the

Veneto Veneto (, ; vec, Vèneto ) or Venetia is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about five million, ranking fourth in Italy. The region's capital is Venice while the biggest city is Verona. Veneto was part of the Roman Empire unt ...

, where he absorbed influences from the

Vivarini Vivarini is the surname of a family of painters from Murano (Venice), who produced a great quantity of work in Venice and its neighborhood in the 15th century, leading on to that phase of the school which is represented by Carpaccio and the Belli ...

Squarcione Francesco Squarcione (''c.'' 1395 – after 1468) was an Italian artist from Padua. His pupils included Andrea Mantegna (with whom he had many legal battles), Cosimo Tura and Carlo Crivelli. There are only two works signed by him: the ''Mad ...

, and Mantegna. He left the Veneto by 1458 and spent most of the remainder of his career in the March of Ancona, where he developed a distinctive personal style that contrasts with that of his Venetian contemporary

Giovanni Bellini Giovanni Bellini (; c. 1430 – 26 November 1516) was an Italian Renaissance painter, probably the best known of the Bellini family of Venetian painters. He was raised in the household of Jacopo Bellini, formerly thought to have been his father ...

Early life

Crivelli was born around 1430–35 in

to a family of painters and received his artistic formation there and 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 details of Crivelli's career are still sparse: He is said to have studied under

Jacobello del Fiore Jacobello del Fiore (c. 1370 – 1439) was a Venetian painter in the late fourteenth century and early fifteenth century. His early work is in the Late Gothic style popularized by Altichiero da Verona and Jacopo Avanzi, two of his contemporar ...

, who was painting as late as 1436; at that time Crivelli was probably only a boy. He also studied at the school of

in Venice, then left Venice for

, where he is believed to have worked in the workshop of

Francesco Squarcione Francesco Squarcione (''c.'' 1395 – after 1468) was an Italian artist from Padua. His pupils included Andrea Mantegna (with whom he had many legal battles), Cosimo Tura and Carlo Crivelli. There are only two works signed by him: the ''Mad ...

and then, after being sentenced in 1457 to a six-month prison term for an affair with a married woman, left in 1459 for

Zadar Zadar ( , ; historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian: ); see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited Croatian city. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar serv ...

in Dalmatia (now part of Croatia, but then a Venetian territory).

Career

He was master of his own shop when sent to prison for adultery in 1457. The dates he signed on the pictures that survive extend from 1468 on an altarpiece in the church of San Silvestro at Massa Fermana near

Fermo Fermo (ancient: Firmum Picenum) is a town and ''comune'' of the Marche, Italy, in the Province of Fermo. Fermo is on a hill, the Sabulo, elevation , on a branch from Porto San Giorgio on the Adriatic coast railway. History The oldest hum ...

to 1493 on ''The Dead Christ between St John, the Virgin and Mary Magdalene'' in Milan's

Brera Gallery The Pinacoteca di Brera ("Brera Art Gallery") is the main public gallery for paintings in Milan, Italy. It contains one of the foremost collections of Italian paintings from the 13th to the 20th century, an outgrowth of the cultural program of ...

. Though the artist advertised his Venetian origins with his signature, often some variation on ''Carolus Crivellus Venetos'' ("Carlo Crivelli of Venice"), Crivelli seems to have worked chiefly in the March of Ancona, and especially in and near

. Only two pictures can be found today in Venice, both in the church of San Sebastiano. He painted in

tempera Tempera (), also known as egg tempera, is a permanent, fast-drying painting medium consisting of colored pigments mixed with a water-soluble binder medium, usually glutinous material such as egg yolk. Tempera also refers to the paintings done ...

only, despite the increasing popularity of

oil painting Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...

during his lifetime, and on panels, though some of his paintings have been transferred to canvas. His predilection for decoratively punched gilded backgrounds is one of the marks of this conservative taste, in part imposed by his patrons. Of his early

polyptych A polyptych ( ; Greek: ''poly-'' "many" and ''ptychē'' "fold") is a painting (usually panel painting) which is divided into sections, or panels. Specifically, a "diptych" is a two-part work of art; a "triptych" is a three-part work; a tetrapty ...

s, only one, the altarpiece from Ascoli Piceno, dated 1473, survives in its entirety in its original frame, and still in its original location (the city's Cathedral). All the others have been disassembled and their panels and

predella In art a predella (plural predelle) is the lowest part of an altarpiece, sometimes forming a platform or step, and the painting or sculpture along it, at the bottom of an altarpiece, sometimes with a single much larger main scene above, but oft ...

scenes are divided among several museums. An amorphous band of contemporaries, imitators and followers, termed ''Crivelleschi'', reflect to varying degrees aspects of his style.

Work

Carlo Crivelli - Saint Francis Collecting the Blood of Christ - Google Art Project

Unlike the naturalistic trends arising in Florence during his lifetime, Crivelli's style continues to represent the courtly

International Gothic International Gothic is a period of Gothic art which began in Burgundy, France, and northern Italy in the late 14th and early 15th century. It then spread very widely across Western Europe, hence the name for the period, which was introduced by th ...

sensibility. His urban settings are jewel-like and full of elaborate allegorical detail. He favored verdant landscape backgrounds, and his works can be identified by his characteristic use of fruits and flowers as decorative motifs, often depicted in pendant festoons, which are also a hallmark of the Paduan studio of Francesco Squarcione, where Crivelli may have worked. His paintings have a linear quality identified with his Umbrian contemporaries. Crivelli is a painter of marked individuality. Unlike

, his contemporary, his works are not "soft", but clear and definite in contour with marked attention to detail. His use of ''

trompe-l'œil ''Trompe-l'œil'' ( , ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. ''Trompe l'oeil'', which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into ...

'', often compared with that found in the works of

Northern Renaissance The Northern Renaissance was the Renaissance that occurred in Europe north of the Alps. From the last years of the 15th century, its Renaissance spread around Europe. Called the Northern Renaissance because it occurred north of the Italian Renais ...

painters like

Rogier van der Weyden Rogier van der Weyden () or Roger de la Pasture (1399 or 140018 June 1464) was an early Netherlandish painter whose surviving works consist mainly of religious triptychs, altarpieces, and commissioned single and diptych portraits. He was highly ...

, includes raised objects, such as jewels and armor modeled in gesso on the panel. Commissioned by the

Franciscans , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

and Dominicans of Ascoli, Crivelli's work is exclusively religious in nature. His paintings consist largely of ''

Madonna and Child In art, a Madonna () is a representation of Mary, either alone or with her child Jesus. These images are central icons for both the Catholic and Orthodox churches. The word is (archaic). The Madonna and Child type is very prevalent in ...

'' images, ''

Pietà The Pietà (; meaning "pity", "compassion") is a subject in Christian art depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus after his body was removed from the cross. It is most often found in sculpture. The Pietà is a specific form o ...

'', and the altarpieces known as

s that were increasingly unfashionable. Often filled with images of suffering, such as gaping wounds in Christ's hands and side and the mouths of mourners twisted in agony, Crivelli's work fulfills the spiritual needs of his patrons. These ultra-realistic, sometimes disturbing qualities have often led critics to label Crivelli's paintings "grotesque", much like his fellow Northern Italian painter,

Cosimo Tura Cosimo is the Italian form of the Greek name ''Kosmas'' (latinised as '' Cosmas''). Cosimo may refer to: Characters * Cosimo Piovasco di Rondò, hero of Italo Calvino's 1957 novel ''The Baron in the Trees'' Given name Medici family * Cosimo ...

. His work attracted numerous prestigious commissions and must have appealed to the taste of his patrons. Carlo Crivelli died in the Marche (probably

) around 1495.

Vittorio Crivelli Vittorio (or Vittore) Crivelli was an Italian painter, brother of Carlo Crivelli. Born ca. 1440 in Venice, dead in Venice 1501 or 1502. His works are similar in style to his brother's, but less accomplished. There are examples of his work in th ...

, with whom he occasionally collaborated, was his younger brother.

Pietro Alemanno Pietro Alemanno ( 1430 – 1497 or 1498) was an Italian-Austrian painter of the Renaissance period. He was born in Göttweig (Austria) and died in Ascoli Piceno. He trained with Carlo Crivelli. In 1484, Alemanno painted a fresco of the ''Annun ...

, a painter who immigrated to the March of Ancona from Germany/Austria, was his pupil and collaborator. Donato Crivelli, who was also a pupil of Jacobello and was working in 1459, may be of the same family as Carlo.

Reputation

His work fell out of favor following his death and

Vasari Giorgio Vasari (, also , ; 30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance Master, who worked as a painter, architect, engineer, writer, and historian, who is best known for his work ''The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculpt ...

's ''

Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects ''The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'' ( it, Le vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori), often simply known as ''The Lives'' ( it, Le Vite), is a series of artist biographies written by 16th-ce ...

'', which is notably Florentine in its outlook, does not mention him. He had something of a revival, especially in the UK, during the time of the pre-Raphaelite painters, several of whom, including

Edward Burne-Jones Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August, 183317 June, 1898) was a British painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood which included Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Millais, Ford Madox Brown and Holman Hun ...

, admired his work. His reputation faded with that movement, but recent writings on his work and a rehanging of his work 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 ...

, have brought him renewed attention.

Susan Sontag Susan Sontag (; January 16, 1933 – December 28, 2004) was an American writer, philosopher, and political activist. She mostly wrote essays, but also published novels; she published her first major work, the essay "Notes on 'Camp'", in 1964. Her ...

in '' Notes on "Camp"'' (1992) wrote: "Camp is the paintings of Carlo Crivelli, with their real jewels and ''

'' insects and cracks in the masonry."

Works

* 1472 Altarpiece, now divided up between a number of galleries in the United States and Europe. * ''Adoration of the Shepherds'',

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg (Museum of Fine Arts of Strasbourg) is the old masters paintings collection of the city of Strasbourg, located in the Alsace region of France. The museum is housed in the first and second floors of the ...

*''

The Annunciation, with Saint Emidius ''The Annunciation, with Saint Emidius'' is an altarpiece by Italian artist Carlo Crivelli showing an artistic adaptation of the Annunciation. The altarpiece was painted for the Church of SS. Annunziata in the Italian town of Ascoli Piceno, in ...

'', 1486, National Gallery, London. Possibly his most famous painting. *''An Apostle'', c. 1471–73, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York *''Ascoli Piceno Altarpiece'' (or ''Saint Emidius Altarpiece''), 1472–73, Cathedral of Saint Emidius, Ascoli Piceno. The only altarpiece entirely surviving, with its original XVth century carved wooden frame. *''Beato Ferretti'', 1489, National Gallery, London *''Dead Christ'', Vatican Gallery *''Enthroned Madonna, St. Jerome and St. Sebastian'', 1490 *''The Immaculate Conception'', 1492 *''Lamentation over the Dead Christ'', 1485,

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

*''Madonna and Child'', 1480, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York *''Madonna and Child'', 1460, Verona *''Madonna and Child, 1480–1486, Ancona *''Madonna and Child'', Church of San Giacomo Maggiore in Massignano *''Madonna and Child Enthroned'', 1472,

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, New York *'' Madonna and Child with Saints'', 1490 *''Madonna and Saints'', 1491, Berlin *''Madonna of the Candle'', Brera of Milan *''Madonna of Poggio Bretta'', c.1472, 71x50 cm, Ascoli Piceno, Diocesan Museum of Ascoli Piceno *Madonna with child and saints, Monte San Martino in Marche *''Mary Magdalene'', 1480,

Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the St ...

, Amsterdam *''Pietà'', 1476, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York *''Saint Dominic'', 1472, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York *'' Saint Francis with the Blood of Christ'', 1480-1486 *''Saint George Slaying the Dragon'', 1470 *''Saint James Major'', part of an altarpiece, 1472,

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...

*''Saint Stephen'' from the Demidoff Altarpiece, 1476, National Gallery, London *''San Giacomo'', 1472 :it:San Giacomo (Carlo Crivelli) *''St Thomas Aquinas'', 1476, National Gallery, London *''Virgin and Child with Saints Francis and Sebastian'', 1491 *''Virgin Annunciate'', 1482, Frankfurt Another of his principal pictures is in San Francesco di Matelica.

Gallery of paintings

File:Carlo Crivelli - Saint James Major, part of an altarpiece - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Saint James Major'', 1472 File:Maria Magdalena Rijksmuseum SK-A-3989.jpeg, ''Mary Magdalene'', 1480 File:Saint George - Carlo Crivelli.jpg,

Saint George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...

, 1472 File:Carlo crivelli, Santi Pietro e Paolo, 87x44 cm, Londra, National Gallery.jpg, ''

Saints Peter and Paul Peter and Paul may refer to: * Saint Peter and Paul the Apostle considered together ** Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, 29 June in the Catholic liturgical calendar ** St. Peter and St. Paul's Church (disambiguation) * ''Peter and Paul'' (film), 1 ...

'', part of the Porto San Giorgio Altarpiece, 1470 File:Polittico del 1476, s. caterina.jpg, Saint Catherine, 1476 File:Crivelli, Carlo-The Virgin Annunciate.jpg, ''The Virgin Annunciate'', 1482 (detail) File:Carlo Crivelli - The Virgin and Child with Saints Francis and Sebastian.jpg, ''The Virgin and Child with Saints Francis and Sebastian'', 1491 File:Carlo Crivelli 075.jpg, ''Enthroned Madonna, St. Jerome and St. Sebastian'', 1490 File:Polittico del 1476, s. francesco.jpg, ''St. Francis'', 1476 File:Dead Christ Supported by Two Angels c. 1472.jpg, ''Dead Christ Supported by Two Angels'', late 1470s,

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...

File:Carlo Crivelli - Saint George Slaying the Dragon, 1470.jpg, '' Saint George Slaying the Dragon'', part of the Porto San Giorgio Altarpiece, 1470 File:Carlo crivelli, madonna di macerata, 1470-73 ca. 01.jpg, '' Madonna with Child'', c.1470,

Macerata Macerata () is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy, the county seat of the province of Macerata in the Marche region. It has a population of about 41,564. History The historical city centre is on a hill between the Chienti and Potenza ri ...

File:Carlo Crivelli 065.jpg, ''Madonna and Child'', 1460,

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...

File:Madonna and Child, ca. 1480.jpg, ''Madonna and Child'', 1480,

, New York City File:Carlo Crivelli 063.jpg, ''Madonna and Child'', 1480–1486,

Ancona Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic S ...

File:St-stephen.jpg, ''Saint Stephen'', 1476, with three stones and the martyrs' palm File:Crivelli, beato gabriele ferretti.jpg, ''Beato Ferretti'' (''The Vision of the Blessed Gabriele''), c. 1489,

National Gallery 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 ...

Notes

Sources

*''Encyclopedia of Artists'', volume 2, edited by William H.T. Vaughan, 2000, *''Italian Art'', edited by Gloria Fossi, , 2000 *

External links

Carlo Crivelli at the Web Gallery of ArtCarlo Crivelli at the National Gallery, London"Carlo Crivelli, ''The Annunciation, with Saint Emidius''", The National Gallery, London

smARThistory: ''Madonna and Child''''Italian Paintings in the Robert Lehman Collection''
plates 92–93, index
Works
a
Open Library
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Crivelli, Carlo Italian Renaissance painters Quattrocento painters Painters from Venice 1430s births 1495 deaths Italian male painters 15th-century Italian painters 15th-century Venetian people Trompe-l'œil artists Catholic painters