Pietro Novelli (March 2, 1603 – August 27, 1647) was an Italian painter of the

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

period, active mainly in

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

. Also known as ''il Monrealese'' or ''Pietro "Malta" Novelli'' to distinguish him from his father, Pietro Antonio Novelli I. He was also nicknamed by contemporaries as the ''

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of works by Raphael, His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of ...

of Sicily''.

Biography

He was born in

Monreale Monreale (; ; Sicilian: ''Murriali'') is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Palermo, in Sicily, southern Italy. It is located on the slope of Monte Caputo, overlooking the very fertile valley called ''"La Conca d'oro"'' (the Golde ...

, and died in

. He initially trained with his father, a painter and mosaicist. His father died in 1625 from the bubonic plague. As a young apprentice he was a fellow pupil with Gerardo Asturino. In 1618, he moved to Palermo and apprenticed with Vito Carrera (1555–1623). His first dated work is from 1626: ''St. Anthony Abbot'' for the church of Sant'Antonio Abate in Palermo. The development of his style owed much to

Anthony van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (, many variant spellings; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Brabantian Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Southern Netherlands and Italy. The seventh c ...

, who visited

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

in 1624 and whose altarpiece, the ''Madonna of the Rosary'' in the oratory of Santa Maria del Rosario in Palermo was highly influential for local artists. He was also commissioned works and paintings for many churches in Piana degli Albanesi, and various works to adorn the villas of the

Sicilian nobility The Sicilian nobility was a privileged hereditary class in the Kingdom of Sicily, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the Kingdom of Italy, whose origins may be traced to the 11th century AD. History The Romans, Byzantines and Saracens exported ...

. Other influences on Novelli were the

Caravaggisti The Caravaggisti (or the "Caravagesques") were stylistic followers of the late 16th-century Italian Baroque painter Caravaggio. His influence on the new Baroque style that eventually emerged from Mannerism was profound. Caravaggio never establish ...

or tenebrists active in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

(for example, Ribera). Novelli also painted for the church of ''Santa Zita'' in

, and painted a ''Marriage of Cana'' for the refectory of the Benedictines in Monreale. He was injured during the revolution in Palermo in 1647, and died from his wounds.Biography by Martuscelli. His pupils included Andrea Carreca,

Francesco Maggiotto Francesco Fedeli, nicknamed Francesco Maggiotto or also il Maggiotto (1738 – 13 September 1805) was an Italian painter from Venice. Life Francesco Maggiotto was the son of Domenico Fedeli, with whom he shared the nickname "Maggiotto"; in t ...

, Francesco Giselli, Michele Blasco, Vincenzo Marchese, Giacomo lo Verde, and Macri da Girgenti. He was also an architect and stage set designer.

Gallery

File:Pietro novelli-resurrección de lázaro-prado.jpg, ''Resurrection of Lazarus'' File:Pietro Novelli - Marriage of the Virgin - WGA16597.jpg, ''The

Marriage of the Virgin The Marriage of the Virgin is the subject in Christian art depicting the marriage of the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. The marriage is not mentioned in the canonical Gospels but is covered in several apocryphal sources and in later redactions, no ...

'' File:Mosè, Pietro Novelli.jpg, ''

Moses Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pro ...

'' File:Santa Rosalía de Palermo en gloria (Novelli).jpg, ''

Saint Rosalia Rosalia (1130–1166), also called La Santuzza or "''The Little Saint''", and in Sicilian as "Rusulia", is the patron saint of Palermo in Italy, Camargo, Chihuahua, and three towns in Venezuela: El Hatillo, Zuata, and El Playon. She is es ...

'' File:San Gabriele Arcangelo inviato dalla Trinità alla Vergine Maria - Novelli.jpg, '' Archangel Gabriel''

References

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Grove Encyclopedia entryGetty Guide biography
1603 births 1647 deaths People from Monreale 17th-century Italian painters Italian male painters Painters from Palermo Italian Baroque painters Burials at San Domenico, Palermo {{Italy-painter-17thC-stub