Girolamo Romani, known as Romanino (c. 1485 - c. 1566), was an Italian High Renaissance painter active in the

Veneto it, Veneto (man) it, Veneta (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = ...

and Lombardy, near

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo ...

. His long career brought forth several different styles.

Biography

Romani was born in

. His early training and life are not well documented. A

Quattrocento The cultural and artistic events of Italy during the period 1400 to 1499 are collectively referred to as the Quattrocento (, , ) from the Italian word for the number 400, in turn from , which is Italian for the year 1400. The Quattrocento encom ...

-esque ''Pietà'', painted for the church of ''San Lorenzo'' of Brescia, dated from 1510, is exhibited in the Accademia. He took up residence in Venice in his twenties, at the latest by 1513. He was commissioned to complete a ''Madonna enthroned with four saints'' for the church of Santa Giustina 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 ...

in 1513. The coloration of the painting is of Venetian style, but the duller visages in bejeweled setting recalls styles of previous generations. He completed series of frescoes for Niccolò Orsini's Palace in

Ghedi Ghedi ( Brescian: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy, Italy. It received the honorary title of city with a presidential decree on November 24, 2001. Ghedi is known for a base of the Italian Air Force, Ghedi Air Bas ...

and an altarpiece for

San Francesco, Brescia San Francesco is a Romanesque- Gothic style, Roman Catholic church and Franciscan monastery located on Via San Francesco d'Assisi in central Brescia, region of Lombardy, Italy. History The Franciscan order arrived in Brescia around 1220, after a ...

. Romanino completed four frescoes in the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

of the

cathedral of Cremona Cremona Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Cremona, ''Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta''), dedicated to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is a Catholic cathedral in Cremona, Lombardy, northern Italy. It is the seat of the Bishop of Cremona. Its be ...

in 1519-1520 depicting stories of the ''Passion of Christ''. His paintings have eclectic influences using Venetian coloration with Florentine-Lombard modeling. In the Cremona frescoes, the Lombard influence of

Altobello Melone Altobello Melone ( 1490–1491 – before 3 May 1543) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance. Biography Melone was born in Cremona. His work merges Lombard and Mannerist styles. In Cremona, he encountered the elder Girolamo Romanino. H ...

is strong, in the narrative and decorative elements of the fresco. By 1521, Romanino was replaced by

Il Pordenone Pordenone, Il Pordenone in Italian, is the byname of Giovanni Antonio de’ Sacchis (c. 1484 – 14 January 1539), an Italian Mannerist painter, loosely of the Venetian school. Vasari, his main biographer, wrongly identifies him as Giovann ...

in the decoration of the church. He then returned to

to work (1521–1524) with

Alessandro Bonvicino Alessandro Bonvicino (also Buonvicino) (possibly 22 December 1554), more commonly known as Moretto, or in Italian Il Moretto da Brescia (the Moor of Brescia), was an Italian Renaissance painter from Brescia, where he also mostly worked. His ...

in the decoration of the "Cappella del Sacramento" in ''San Giovanni Evangelista''. Romanino, cristo portacroce

His ''St. Matthew and the Angel'' depicts the apostle at work under candlelight, and represents one of the first such nocturnes in Italian painting, a device which

Correggio Antonio Allegri da Correggio (August 1489 – 5 March 1534), usually known as just Correggio (, also , , ), was the foremost painter of the Parma school of the High Italian Renaissance, who was responsible for some of the most vigorous and sens ...

and Cambiaso would soon pursue. He also helped decorate the Palazzo Averoldi. A series of frescoes in the

Castle of Malpaga The Malpaga Castle (Italian: ''Castello di Malpaga'') is a castle in the communal territory of Cavernago, a village in the province of Bergamo, northern Italy. Its main features are the interior rooms frescoed by the Renaissance painter Il Roma ...

, near Bergamo (1520-1530s), celebrating the life of

Bartolomeo Colleoni Bartolomeo Colleoni (; 1400 – 2 November 1475) was an Italian condottiero, who became captain-general of the Republic of Venice. Colleoni "gained reputation as the foremost tactician and disciplinarian of the 15th century".''Websters New B ...

, is attributed to him. In 1531 to 1532, he worked with

Dosso Dossi Giovanni di Niccolò de Luteri, better known as Dosso Dossi ( 1489–1542), was an Italian Renaissance painter who belonged to the School of Ferrara, painting in a style mainly influenced by Venetian painting, in particular Giorgione and early T ...

in fresco decoration of Castello del Buoncosiglio in

Trento Trento ( or ; Ladin and lmo, Trent; german: Trient ; cim, Tria; , ), also anglicized as Trent, is a city on the Adige River in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol in Italy. It is the capital of the autonomous province of Trento. In the 16th ce ...

. He completed organ shutters for the church of

Asola Asola may refer to the following : Places and jurisdictions * Asola, Lombardy, in the province of Mantua, northwestern Italy ** its collegiate cathedral Sant'Andrea was the 'see' of a single-parish Abbey nullius of Asola (1509-1818) * Asola (D ...

on ''Augustus and the sibyl'', and ''Sacrifice of Isaac''. Around 1545 he produced '' The Feast in the House of Simon the Pharisee'', still in Brescia. He died between 1559 and 1561. His main pupils were his son-in-law

Lattanzio Gambara Lattanzio Gambara (c. 1530 – 18 March 1574) was an Italian painter, active in Renaissance and Mannerist styles. It is likely that Gambara is the same 16th century painter referred to as ''Lattanzio Cremonese'' or ''Lattanzio da Cremona''. Biog ...

Girolamo Muziano Girolamo Muziano or Mutiani (c. 1532 – 1592), was an Italian painter, one of the most prominent artists active in Rome in the mid-to-late sixteenth century. Life He was born in Acquafredda, near Brescia, but active mainly in Rome. The accoun ...

, and Stefano Rosa. He is also known to have influenced artists such as

Giulio Campi Giulio Campi (1502 – 5 March 1572) was an Italian painter and architect. His brothers Vincenzo Campi and Antonio Campi were also renowned painters. Biography The eldest of a family prominent painters, Campi was born at Cremona. His father Ga ...

Stolen painting

Shortly after the 1940 Nazi invasion of France, Romanino's painting ''Christ Carrying the Cross'' was stolen from the household of Frederico Gentili di Giuseppe, an Italian Jew. In 2012, it was discovered among items lent to an American museum from an Italian museum. Through the help of an anonymous tip,

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...

and the

United States Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...

, it was eventually returned to Gentili's heirs. Presently it is insured for US$2.5 million."474-year-old painting stolen by Nazis given to owner's heirs"
from

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and politi ...

References

Sources

External links

Painters of reality: the legacy of Leonardo and Caravaggio in Lombardy
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Romani (see index) {{DEFAULTSORT:Romani, Girolamo 1480s births 1560s deaths 15th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 16th-century Italian painters Italian Renaissance painters Painters from Brescia