Cecco Bravo (15 November 1601 – 1661) was an Italian painter of the Florentine Baroque school. His true name is Francesco Montelatici.
Biography
He trained with
Giovanni Biliverti and was also close to
Sigismondo Coccapani. In the early 1620s he worked in the studio of
Matteo Rosselli
Matteo Rosselli (10 August 1578 – 18 January 1650) was an Italian painter of the late Florentine Counter- Mannerism and early Baroque. He is best known however for his highly populated grand-manner historical paintings.
Biography
He first app ...
.
By 1629, he had his own independent studio. His first recorded work is a
fresco of the ''Virgin, St John & Angels'' (c. 1628/9;
San Marco, Florence
San Marco is a religious complex in Florence, Italy. It comprises a church and a convent. The convent, which is now the Museo Nazionale di San Marco, has three claims to fame. During the 15th century it was home to two famous Dominicans, the pa ...
) and a painting of ''Charity'' (
Annunziata of Florence). In 1633, he painted six lunettes with scenes from the ''Life of the Blessed Bonaventura Bonaccorsi'' for the church of Santissima Annunziata in
Pistoia, continuing a series begun in 1601 by
Bernardino Poccetti. He painted a frieze depicting children’s Games and stories from
Orlando Furioso (c. 1631) for Villa Corsini a Mezzomonte in
Impruneta
Impruneta is a town and '' comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Florence in the Italian region of Tuscany. The population is about 15,000.
Name and production
The name Impruneta is derived from ''inprunetis'' meaning "within the pine woods", and ...
.
He was commissioned to decorate the library in the
Casa Buonarroti
Casa Buonarroti is a museum in Florence, Italy. The building was a property owned by the sculptor Michelangelo, which he left to his nephew, Leonardo Buonarroti. The house was converted into a museum dedicated to the artist by his great nephew, Mi ...
of Florence. After his depiction of ''Fame'' on the ceiling of the library, he became disenchanted with the patron’s excessive instructions, and the panels of illustrious Florentines on the walls were completed by others, including
Domenico Puligo
Domenico Puligo (1492–1527) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance, active in Florence. His real name was ''Domenico di Bartolomeo Ubaldini''.
He trained under Ridolfo Ghirlandaio and acted as an assistant to Andrea del Sarto, whom he als ...
and
Matteo Rosselli
Matteo Rosselli (10 August 1578 – 18 January 1650) was an Italian painter of the late Florentine Counter- Mannerism and early Baroque. He is best known however for his highly populated grand-manner historical paintings.
Biography
He first app ...
(1636). He was commissioned to complete work initiated by
Giovanni da San Giovanni
Giovanni da San Giovanni (20 March 1592 – 9 December 1636), also known as Giovanni Mannozzi, was an Italian painter of the early Baroque period, active in Florence.
Biography
Born in San Giovanni Valdarno, he trained under Matteo Rosselli. ...
(who died after starting) for the ''Sala degli Argenti'' in
Palazzo Pitti
The Palazzo Pitti (), in English sometimes called the Pitti Palace, is a vast, mainly Renaissance, palace in Florence, Italy. It is situated on the south side of the River Arno, a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio. The core of the present ...
, in a commission shared with
Ottavio Vannini
Ottavio Vannini (September 15, 1585 – c. 1643) was an Italian artist of the Baroque period, active mainly in Florence.
Biography
Born in Florence to Michele Vannini. He initially apprenticed for four years with a mediocre painter by t ...
and
Francesco Furini
Francesco Furini (c. 1600 (or 1603) – August 19, 1646) was an Italian Baroque painter of Florence, noted for his sensual sfumato style in paintings of both secular and religious subjects.
Biography
He was born in Florence to an artistic ...
. The frescoes, intended to celebrate
Lorenzo de' Medici
Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici (; 1 January 1449 – 8 April 1492) was an Italian statesman, banker, ''de facto'' ruler of the Florentine Republic and the most powerful and enthusiastic patron of Renaissance culture in Italy. Also known as Lorenzo ...
, were commissioned in 1635 by
Ferdinando II de' Medici
Ferdinando II de' Medici (14 July 1610 – 23 May 1670) was grand duke of Tuscany from 1621 to 1670. He was the eldest son of Cosimo II de' Medici and Maria Maddalena of Austria. He was remembered by his contemporaries as a man of culture a ...
prior to his marriage to the daughter of the Duke of Urbino. In the south wall, Bravo completed ''Lorenzo as messenger of peace''.
Bravo was part of a team that frescoed ''quadri riportati'' on the walls of the ''
Oratorio dei Vanchetoni''. The oratory also contains frescoes by San Giovanni,
Pietro Liberi
Pietro (Libertino) Liberi (1605 – 18 October 1687) was an Italian painter of the Baroque era, active mainly in Venice and the Veneto.
Biography
Liberi was born in Padua, his earliest training was with Alessandro Varotari (''il Padovanino''). ...
and
Baldassare Franceschini (il Volterrano). A canvas by Bravo of the ''Aurora'', a theme also depicted earlier by
Guido Reni, is at the
Palazzo Montecitorio
The Palazzo Montecitorio () is a palace in Rome and the seat of the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Italian Parliament.
History
The palace's name derives from the slight hill on which it is built, which was claimed to be the ''Mon ...
.
In 1659, Cecco was recommended by the Cardinal
Leopoldo de' Medici
Leopoldo de' Medici (6 November 1617 – 10 November 1675) was an Italian cardinal, scholar, patron of the arts and Governor of Siena. He was the brother of Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany.
Biography
Prince Leopoldo was born a ...
for a position as a court painter to Anna, wife of the archduke of Ferdinand Karl of the
Tyrol
Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...
. He accepted and spent the last two years of his life in
Innsbruck. One of his patrons was
Filippo Baldinucci, but Bravo was not included in his biographies of Florentine artists.
Howard Hibbard
Benjamin Howard Hibbard, Jr. (May 23, 1928 – October 29, 1984) was an American art historian and educator. Hibbard was Professor of Italian Baroque Art at Columbia University.
Career
A native of Madison, Hibbard was born to Margaret and Benja ...
contrasted the murky sensuality of the paintings of
Pignoni, Furini and Bravo with the piety of
Carlo Dolci. Bravo is one of the few Florentines to violate the crisp drawn edges of figures, and aim for a general bravura of execution, nearly becoming a ''pintore del tocco''. Some attribute this to influences he encountered in Venice, for example
Bernardo Strozzi
Bernardo Strozzi, named il Cappuccino and il Prete Genovese (c. 1581 – 2 August 1644) was an Italian Baroque painter and engraver. A canvas and fresco artist, his wide subject range included history, allegorical, genre and portrait paintin ...
. Cecco Bravo influenced
Felice Ficherelli
Felice Ficherelli (30 August 1605 – 5 March 1660) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, born in San Gimignano and active mainly in Tuscany
it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1 ...
(il Riposo).
References
Bibliography
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External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bravo, Cecco
1601 births
1661 deaths
17th-century Italian painters
Italian male painters
Painters from Florence
Italian Baroque painters