Ottaviano Nelli (1375–1444?) was an Italian painter of the early Quattrocento. Nelli primarily painted

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

es, but also panel paintings. He had several pupils and two painters were influenced by him.

Biography

He was born in

Gubbio Gubbio () is an Italian town and ''comune'' in the far northeastern part of the Italian province of Perugia (Umbria). It is located on the lowest slope of Mt. Ingino, a small mountain of the Apennines. History The city's origins are very ancient. ...

Umbria it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , ...

to the painter Martino Nelli, and was active there and in

Perugia Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part o ...

(1400), Urbino,

Assisi Assisi (, also , ; from la, Asisium) is a town and ''comune'' of Italy in the Province of Perugia in the Umbria region, on the western flank of Monte Subasio. It is generally regarded as the birthplace of the Latin poet Propertius, born aroun ...

, and

Foligno Foligno (; Southern Umbrian: ''Fuligno'') is an ancient town of Italy in the province of Perugia in east central Umbria, on the Topino river where it leaves the Apennines and enters the wide plain of the Clitunno river system. It is located so ...

. Among his pupils was his brother Tommaso, Domenico Di Cecco di Baldi,

Giovanni Pintali Giovanni may refer to: * Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname * Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data * '' Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend ...

, Giacomo Di Bedo, and

Ubaldo Di Matteo Ubaldo is a masculine Italian and Spanish given name, from Germanic name, Germanic ''hug'' "mind" and ''bald'' "bold". Notable people with the name include: *Ubald of Gubbio (Ubaldo Baldassini) (c. 1084 – 1160), Italian bishop and Catholic saint * ...

. Nelli was "consul" (a local government representative) for the Sant'Andrea district of Gubbio in 1440 and during the same year, the

prior Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be l ...

s of

had him paint the

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

of the duke

Gian Galeazzo Visconti Gian Galeazzo Visconti (16 October 1351 – 3 September 1402), was the first duke of Milan (1395) and ruled the late-medieval city just before the dawn of the Renaissance. He also ruled Lombardy jointly with his uncle Bernabò. He was the foundi ...

with the help of Francesco d'Antonio and Christoforo di Nicoluccio from Perugia. In 1403, he painted ''Madonna del Belvedere'' at Gubbio and the ''

Polyptych of Pietralunga 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 ...

''. Nelli painted the frescoes of the

Trinci Palace The Trinci Palace is a patrician residence in the center of Foligno, central Italy. It houses an archaeological museum, the city's picture gallery, a multimedia museum of Tournaments and Jousts and the Civic Museum. History Palazzo Trinci was t ...

in 1424. From 1428 to 1432, he was a part of the brotherhood of Santa Croce, Florence and worked on the painting ''Madonna Crowned by Angels'' for the church. In 1441,

Domenico di Cecco Domenico di Cecco, also known by Domenico di Cecco di Baldi (active mid-15th century) was an Italian painter of the Quattrocento. Biography He was born in Gubbio, and active there, where he was a pupil of Ottaviano Nelli Ottaviano Nelli (13 ...

became his pupil and sometime around that year he adopted a son named Mars. His wife Balda died sometime before 1458. The painters Gentile da Fabriano and

Giovanni Sanzio Giovanni Santi (c. 1435 – 1 August 1494) was an Italian painter, decorator, and the father of Raphael. He was born in 1435 at Colbordolo in the Duchy of Urbino. He studied under Piero della Francesca and was influenced by Fiorenzo di Lorenzo. ...

were influenced by Nelli. It is believed that Fabriano and Nelli worked together to decorate the church

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

Sant'Agostino, Gubbio Sant'Agostino is a Gothic- Romanesque style Roman Catholic church in Gubbio, region of Umbria, Italy. A church at the site was built in the second half of the 13th century. Among the works inside are Nelli and his workshop primarily painted frescoes, many of them churches in Gubbio and the nearby cities in

. He painted some

easel painting An easel is an upright support used for displaying and/or fixing something resting upon it, at an angle of about 20° to the vertical. In particular, easels are traditionally used by painters to support a painting while they work on it, normally ...

s on panel, but they are rare. One of his easel paintings can be found in the church of Sant'Agostino, Gubbio, but it has been almost entirely repainted. A second similar easel painting is at Montefalco.

Austen Henry Layard Sir Austen Henry Layard (; 5 March 18175 July 1894) was an English Assyriologist, traveller, cuneiformist, art historian, draughtsman, collector, politician and diplomat. He was born to a mostly English family in Paris and largely raised in It ...

wrote that Nelli's easel paintings were "far inferior to his works in fresco".

Death

Nothing is recorded about Nelli after 1444, and it is presumed that he died during that year. Many local artists who were influenced by him did not become significant. The Gubbian school, which he was a part of, was taken over by the one which

Perugino Pietro Perugino (, ; – 1523), born Pietro Vannucci, was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Umbrian school, who developed some of the qualities that found classic expression in the High Renaissance. Raphael was his most famous pupil. Ear ...

started at

by the end of the 15th century.

Works

* ''Madonna del Belvedere'' (1403), Church of Santa Maria Nuova, Gubbio. * ''

Life of the Virgin The Life of the Virgin, showing narrative scenes from the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus, is a common subject for pictorial cycles in Christian art, often complementing, or forming part of, a cycle on the Life of Christ. In both cases the nu ...

'' (1408 - 1413 circa), Fresco cycle, Church of San Francesco, Gubbio. * ''Madonna del latte e angeli'', Urbino, Oratorio dell'Umiltà. * ''Life of the Virgin'' (1424), Fresco cycle,

, Chapel of Palazzo Trinci. * ''Madonna del latte'' (post 1427), Urbino, Oratory of Santa Croce. *Panels from a polyptych, of before 1430, now divided (with at least one missing): **''Nativity of Christ'',

Worcester Art Museum The Worcester Art Museum, also known by its acronym WAM, houses over 38,000 works of art dating from antiquity to the present day and representing cultures from all over the world. WAM opened in 1898 in Worcester, Massachusetts, and ranks among th ...

, Worcester, Mass. **''Saint Jerome'', Musée du Petit Palais, Avignon **''Circumcision of Christ'' and ''Mystical Marriage of Saint Francis,

Pinacoteca, Vatican The Vatican Museums ( it, Musei Vaticani; la, Musea Vaticana) are the public museums of the Vatican City. They display works from the immense collection amassed by the Catholic Church and the papacy throughout the centuries, including several of ...

* ''Life of Saint Augustine'', fresco cycle, c. 1430-40,

Sant'Agostino, Gubbio Sant'Agostino is a Gothic- Romanesque style Roman Catholic church in Gubbio, region of Umbria, Italy. A church at the site was built in the second half of the 13th century. Among the works inside are Sant'Agostino, Gubbio Sant'Agostino is a Gothic- Romanesque style Roman Catholic church in Gubbio, region of Umbria, Italy. A church at the site was built in the second half of the 13th century. Among the works inside areSanta Maria della Piaggiola, Gubbio

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelli, Ottaviano 14th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 15th-century Italian painters Quattrocento painters 1375 births Year of death unknown People from Gubbio Umbrian painters