Marco Palmezzano (1460–1539) was an Italian

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

and

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

, belonging to the

Forlì painting school The Forlivese school of art was a group of Italian Renaissance painters and other artists. Most were born in Forlì or near it in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Some other artists went to Forlì to study. As a Renaissance art movement, it ...

, who painted in a style recalling earlier Northern

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 ...

models. He was mostly active near

Forlì Forlì ( , ; rgn, Furlè ; la, Forum Livii) is a ''comune'' (municipality) and city in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, and is the capital of the province of Forlì-Cesena. It is the central city of Romagna. The city is situated along the Via E ...

Biography

Palmezzano was born and died in

Romagna Romagna ( rgn, Rumâgna) is an Italian historical region that approximately corresponds to the south-eastern portion of present-day Emilia-Romagna, North Italy. Traditionally, it is limited by the Apennines to the south-west, the Adriatic to t ...

. After his initial training with the painter

Melozzo da Forlì Melozzo da Forlì (c. 1438 – 8 November 1494) was an Italian Renaissance painter and architect. His fresco paintings are notable for the use of foreshortening. He was the most important member of the Forlì painting school. Biography M ...

— who had collaborated with

Piero della Francesca Piero della Francesca (, also , ; – 12 October 1492), originally named Piero di Benedetto, was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. To contemporaries he was also known as a mathematician and geometer. Nowadays Piero della Francesca i ...

and was widely esteemed as a master of perspective and foreshortening techniques— Palmezzano went to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in the early 1490s. It is rumored that Palmezzano may have then traveled to

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

to join the team painting frescoes at the Holy Cross church there, but no documentary evidence exists. He is, however, noted in property records as residing in

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 ...

in 1495. Shortly thereafter, Palmezzano returned to

, where he spent the rest of his long life—apparently with only brief excursions connected with commissions in other places in the region—until his death in 1539. Among his pupils in Forlì, are listed Baldassarre Carrari il Giovane.Pittura miscellanea
article ''Marco Palmezzano e le sue Opere'' by Egidio Calzini, (1894) page 86-90.

Work

Palmezzano's studio was prolific in producing altarpieces, most commonly featuring the iconic arrangement of an enthroned Virgin with child on her lap, while below, symmetrically sited in the foreground are flanking saints. Venetian painting, in general, and the work of

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 ...

and

Cima da Conegliano Giovanni Battista Cima, also called Cima da Conegliano (c. 1459 – c. 1517), was an Italian Renaissance painter, who mostly worked in Venice. He can be considered part of the Venetian school, though he was also influenced by Antonello da ...

, in particular, were to remain the most powerful influences on Palmezzano's output. Moreover, he remained faithful to the Venetian style of the later 15th and early 16th century.

Mannerism Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, ...

entirely passed him by, and he seemed immune to subsequent developments in Venetian painting. One of the most attractive facets of Palmezzano's oeuvre are the distinctive and suggestive landscapes that form the backdrops of many of his

altarpiece An altarpiece is an artwork such as a painting, sculpture or relief representing a religious subject made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting o ...

s. These are a blend of the ideal and lyrical, and of the observed reality of the Apennine foothills and mountains to the south of Forli for which Palmezzano clearly had a real affection. These landscapes are also employed to subtle and imaginative effect to convey the symbolic religious messages of the works.

Chronology of work

Marco palmezzano, crocifissione degli Uffizi

*''

Crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagin ...

'' (early period) in the Pinacoteca Civica of Forlì. *''Virgin with Child between Saint John the Baptist and Saint Margaret'' (1492) *Decorations in the Chapel Feo in Church of San Biagio at Forlì, destroyed in bombing during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

(1493-34) *''

Annunciation The Annunciation (from Latin '), also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the biblical tale of the announcement by the ange ...

'' altarpiece for Forlì's

Carmelite , image = , caption = Coat of arms of the Carmelites , abbreviation = OCarm , formation = Late 12th century , founder = Early hermits of Mount Carmel , founding_location = Mount Car ...

church (1495-57) *''Virgin and Child with Saints Giacomo and Michele'' (1490s) *''Madonna and Child with Saints'' (1493)

Pinacoteca di Brera 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 ...

*''Virgin and Child with Saints John the Baptist and Filippo Bennizi'' - Gallery of Antique Art of Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Cesena *''Virgin and Child with Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Catherine of Alexandria'', created in

Matelica Matelica is a (municipality) of the Province of Macerata in the Italian region of Marche. Located about southwest of Ancona and west of Macerata, it extends over an area of . Geography Matelica lies in an ample valley where the Braccano cree ...

(1501) *''Crucifixion between Gualberto and Mary Magdalene'' *''Holy Communion of Apostles'' (1506) - Oil on wood, Pinacoteca Civica,

*''The Dead Christ in the Tomb with the Virgin Mary and Saints'' (1506) - Oil on wood, National Gallery, London *''Virgin and Child Enthroned between Saints John the Baptist and Jerome'' (1510) - Oil on wood panel, Vatican Picture Gallery *'' Dead Christ with Two Angels'' (1510) - Tempera on panel, 81 x 79 cm,

Musée du Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

*''Holy Family with Saint Elizabeth and the Infant Saint John'' (1515) - Oil on wood panel, Vatican Picture Gallery *Hospital ''Beaten for Forlì'' (1517) *''The Baptism of Christ'' (1535) - Oil on panel, 90 x 70 cm, Pinacoteca Civica,

*''The Baptism of Christ'' (c. 1535) - Oil on wood panel,

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum. The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...

, Melbourne *''Virgin and Child Surrounded by Saints'' (1537) - Oil on wood panel, Vatican Picture Gallery *''Christ Bearing the Cross'' - Oil on wood panel, Vatican Picture Gallery *''Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist'' - Oil on panel, 65 x 52 cm, Private collection *''The Annunciation with City by the Sea'' - Oil on wood panel, Vatican Picture Gallery *''Saint Jerome and Saint Francis in the Desert'', Loyola University Art Museum, Chicago

Sources

*Francis Russell, ''Marco Palmezzano: Forlì'', in ''The Burlington magazine'', 148.2006, 1237, p. 294-295.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palmezzano, Marco 1460s births 1539 deaths People from Forlì 15th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 16th-century Italian painters Italian Renaissance painters