Lorenzo di Credi (1456/59 – January 12, 1537) was an
Italian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...
painter and
sculptor best known for his paintings of religious subjects. He is most famous for having worked in the studio of
Andrea del Verrocchio
Andrea del Verrocchio (, , ; – 1488), born Andrea di Michele di Francesco de' Cioni, was a sculptor, Italian painter and goldsmith who was a master of an important workshop in Florence. He apparently became known as ''Verrocchio'' after the ...
at the same time as the young
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...
.
Life
Lorenzo was born in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...
in 1456 or 1459 to a goldsmith named Andrea d' Oderigo. He was apprenticed to
Andrea del Verrocchio
Andrea del Verrocchio (, , ; – 1488), born Andrea di Michele di Francesco de' Cioni, was a sculptor, Italian painter and goldsmith who was a master of an important workshop in Florence. He apparently became known as ''Verrocchio'' after the ...
, probably in the mid-1470s. He eventually became Verrocchio's primary assistant and inherited his workshop on Verrocchio's death in 1488. On Verrocchio's behalf he completed the famous ''Madonna di Piazza'' for the
cathedral of Pistoia, commissioned to Verrocchio in 1475 but executed by Lorenzo between 1485 and 1491.
Lorenzo's earliest independent works include an ''Annunciation'' in the
Uffizi
The Uffizi Gallery (; it, Galleria degli Uffizi, italic=no, ) is a prominent art museum located adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums ...
, two panels of the ''Madonna and Child'' at the
Galleria Sabauda
The Galleria Sabauda is an art collection in the Italian city of Turin, which contains the royal art collections amassed by the House of Savoy over the centuries. It is located on Via XX Settembre, 86.
The museum, whose first directors were Rober ...
in
Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...
, another at the
National Gallery in London and ''Adoration of the Child'' at the
Pinacoteca Querini Stampalia in
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
. From his maturity date the ''Madonna and Child with Saints Julian and Nicholas'' (1493) for the Mascalonzi chapel at the
Cestello, Florence (
Paris, Louvre), the ''Adoration of the Shepherds'' (1487) for Santa Chiara (now at the Uffizi) and the ''Baptism of Christ'' for the
Chiostro dello Scalzo (now
Fiesole, San Domenico). In 1501 he remade parts of
Fra Angelico
Fra Angelico (born Guido di Pietro; February 18, 1455) was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance, described by Vasari in his '' Lives of the Artists'' as having "a rare and perfect talent".Giorgio Vasari, ''Lives of the Artists''. Pengu ...
's high altarpiece for
San Domenico,
Fiesole. Later works include an altarpiece (1510–12) for the
Ospedale del Ceppo,
Pistoia (now in that town's Museo Civico) and many small religious panels, including an unfinished ''Crucifixion'' at
Göttingen University and an ''Annunciation'' dated 1508 at the
Harvard University Art Museums.
Lorenzo was also a painter of portraits. His most famous is the ''Portrait of Caterina Sforza'', called ''La dama dei gelsomini'', at the Pinacoteca in
Forlí. Caterina Sforza was the Lady of
Forlì and
Imola in the
Romagna and later a prisoner of
Cesare Borgia. Lorenzo's portrait of her has been the subject of recent attention because of the sitter's resemblance to the ''
Mona Lisa
The ''Mona Lisa'' ( ; it, Gioconda or ; french: Joconde ) is a Half length portrait, half-length portrait painting by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. Considered an archetypal masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, it has been described ...
'' by
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...
. Another portrait by Lorenzo, perhaps of his brother's widow is the panel now at the
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 ...
. The composition of this work is often compared to Leonardo's ''
Ginevra de' Benci'' at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Giorgio 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, Sculp ...
devoted a biography to Lorenzo di Credi in his ''
Lives of the Artists
''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 ...
''. Though Vasari praised Lorenzo's art for its high finish, he criticized him for being a perfectionist who was excessively diligent, ground his pigments too fine, and spent too much time distilling his oils.
Lorenzo had many pupils. His most important were
Giovanni Antonio Sogliani, who assisted Lorenzo in many of his late works. Others include Tommaso di Stefano Lunetti and
Antonio del Ceraiolo. Collaborators and followers included
Giovanni di Benedetto Cianfanini, the Master of the Johnson Ascension of the Magdalene (named after a painting now in Philadelphia) and the anonymous artist known as "Tommaso"
(also called Tommaso di Credi, the Master of the Czartoryski Tondo or the Master of the Santo Spirito Conversazione).
Lorenzo died in Florence in 1537.
File:Lorenzo di Credi - Madonna Adoring the Child - Tondo Karlsruhe.jpg, ''Madonna adoring the Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist'', circa 1485. Karlsruhe, Kunsthalle
File:Pinacoteca Querini Stampalia - Madonna e San Giovannino adoranti il Bambino - Lorenzo di Credi.jpg, ''Madonna adoring the Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist'', circa 1485. Venice, Pinacoteca Querini Stampalia
File:Lorenco di Credi-Adoration.jpg, ''Adoration'', c 1487. National Museum of Serbia
The National Museum of Serbia ( sr, / ) is the largest and oldest museum in Belgrade, Serbia. It is located in the central zone of Belgrade on a square plot between the Republic Square, formerly Theatre Square, and three streets: Čika Ljubina ...
, Belgrade
File:Caterina Sforza incut.jpg, ''Portrait of Caterina Sforza'', circa 1490. Forlì, Pinacoteca
File:Ajaccio Di Credi St Francois.JPG, ''Stigmatization of Saint Francis'', circa 1490. Ajaccio, Musée Fesch
Sources
* Dalli Regoli, Gigetta. ''Lorenzo di Credi.'' Milan: Edizioni di Communità, 1966.
* Grossman, Sheldon. “Two New Paintings by Lorenzo di Credi: A Contribution to the Painter’s Late Style,” ''Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz'', 14, Bd., H. 2 (December 1969): pp. 161–182.
* Kent, Francis W. “Lorenzo di Credi, His Patron Iacopo Bongianni and Savonarola,” ''The Burlington Magazine'', vol. 125, no. 966 (September 1983): pp. 538–541.
*
References
External links
''Leonardo da Vinci, Master Draftsman'' exhibition catalog fully online as PDF from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Library, which contains material on Lorenzo di Credi (see index)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lorenzo di Credi
1450s births
1537 deaths
Painters from Florence
15th-century Italian painters
Italian male painters
16th-century Italian painters
Renaissance painters
Italian goldsmiths
15th-century Italian sculptors
Italian male sculptors
16th-century Italian sculptors