Simone di Filippo Benvenuti, known as Simone dei Crocifissi or Simone da Bologna (about 1330 - 1399), was an Italian painter. Born and died in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

, he painted many religious

panel painting A panel painting is a painting made on a flat panel of wood, either a single piece or a number of pieces joined together. Until canvas became the more popular support medium in the 16th century, panel painting was the normal method, when not paint ...

s, and also

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 in the churches of Santo Stefano and

San Michele in Bosco San Michele in Bosco is a religious complex in Bologna, central Italy, including the church with the same name and the annexed Olivetan monastery. The buildings of the monastery were acquired in 1955 by the municipality of Bologna, to house an o ...

, both at Bologna.

Life

Simone dei Crocifissi was born in

. He was son of the shoemaker Filippo di Benvenuto. In the 17th century he was renamed "of the Crucifixes" (dei Crocifissi) for his "ability to paint great images of the Redeemer, for our sake nailed to the cross" (Malvasia). He trained with

Franco Bolognese Franco Bolognese (14th century) was an Italian painter, active as a miniature painter ( illuminator). He is said to have trained under Oderisi da Gubbio. In conjunction with that master and Giotto, he was employed by Pope Boniface VIII to illustra ...

. He was active as a painter at Bologna from 1354 to 1399 in the wake of

Vitale da Bologna 250px, ''St. George and the Dragon'' Vitale da Bologna (–1360), also known as Vitale di Aymo de' Cavalli or Vitale degli Equi, was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. He is a representative of the 14th century school of painting ...

's previous experience, which he engaged in a robustly more popular style of painting. Simone dei Crocifissi-Couronnement de la Vierge

The initial artistic phase of Simone Di Fillipo can be seen via the frescoes of the life of Christ that come from the church of Santa Maria di Mezzaratta (mid-1350s century), now preserved in the National Art Gallery of Bologna (Pinacoteca di Bologna), where the interest for

Giotto Giotto di Bondone (; – January 8, 1337), known mononymously as Giotto ( , ) and Latinised as Giottus, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence during the Late Middle Ages. He worked during the Gothic/Proto-Renaissance period. Giot ...

's space and plastic solutions is interpreted with a sharp expressivity. The influence on Simone of Vitale's painting style can be caught in works such as the polyptych 474, also preserved at the Pinacoteca. On the other hand, works like the ''Pietà'' by (1368), and the ''Crucifix of St. James'' (1370), on display in the same museum, highlight the influence of

Jacopo Avanzi Jacopo d'Avanzi (after 1350s – 1416) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance period. He is also known as ''Jacopo Avanzi'' or ''Jacopo de Avanzi'', although apparently often confused with other artists, including ''Jacopo de' Bavozi'' and the ...

and his solemn style, even if re-interpreted stressing the devotional goal, as in the ''Madonna'' by

Giovanni da Piacenza 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 ...

(1382). These are the characteristics that enabled Simone dei Crocifisso to reach a leading position in Bologna soon afterwards, gaining pre-eminence as the author of wooden altarpieces for local churches and for individual customers such as '' Nativity''.

External links

*
Museo civico MedievalePinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna
– National Art Gallery of Bologna {{DEFAULTSORT:Crocifissi, Simone dei 1399 deaths Italian male painters Gothic painters Painters from Bologna Year of birth uncertain Trecento painters Fresco painters

Life

Further reading

External links