Alvise or Luigi Vivarini (1442/1453–1503/1505) was an Italian painter, the leading Venetian artist before

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 ...

. Like Bellini, he was part of a dynasty of painters. His father was

Antonio Vivarini Antonio Vivarini (Antonio of Murano) (active c. 14401480) was an Italian painter of the early Renaissance-late Gothic period, who worked mostly in the Republic of Venice. He is probably the earliest of a family of painters, which was descended ...

and his uncle, with whom he may have trained, was

Bartolomeo Vivarini Bartolomeo or Bartolommeo Vivarini (c. 1432c. 1499) was an Italian Renaissance painter, known to have worked from 1450 to 1499. Biography Bartolomeo's brother Antonio Vivarini, and his nephew (also possibly his pupil) Alvise Vivarini, were als ...

. Another uncle, on his mother's side, was the artist known as

Giovanni d'Alemagna Giovanni d'Alemagna (; born Johannes Alamanus; 9 July 1450) was a Venetian renaissance painter of German ancestry, active in Italy, with his brother-in-law Antonio Vivarini on religious paintings in Venice and Padua, that are preserved in the ...

, who worked with his brother-in-law Antonio. Alvise may have trained

Jacopo de' Barbari Jacopo de' Barbari, sometimes known or referred to as de'Barbari, de Barberi, de Barbari, Barbaro, Barberino, Barbarigo or Barberigo (c. 1460/70 – before 1516), was an Italian painter, printmaker and miniaturist with a highly individual style. ...

. It has sometimes been supposed that, besides the Luigi who was the latest of this pictorial family, there had also been another Luigi who was the earliest (i.e. Antonio's father), this supposition being founded on the fact that one picture is signed with the name, with the date 1414. There is good ground, however, for considering this date to be a forgery of a later time. The works of Vivarini show an advance on those of his predecessors, and some of them are productions of high attainment; one of the best was executed for the Scuola di San Girolamo in Venice, representing the saint caressing his lion, and some monks decamping in terror. The architecture and perspective in this work are superior. Many churches in Venice have examples. Other works by Vivarini are in

Treviso Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and ''comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Veneti ...

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

and the

National Gallery, London The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

. He painted some remarkable portraits. The ''Adoration of Christ'' dated 1476, in the sacristy of the church of Montefiorentino, is one of his early productions. In 1480 he painted a ''Virgin and Saints'' for San Francesco,

, now in the Venice Accademia. To about this date belong the ''SS. Matthew and John the Baptist'', in the same collection; and the fresco of ''Christ Carrying His Cross'' in Santi Giovanni e Paolo. In 1488, Alvise Vivarini wrote a letter to the Signory of Venice, requesting permission to share with Bellini in the commission to decorate the Hall of Great Council in the

Doge's Palace The Doge's Palace ( it, Palazzo Ducale; vec, Pałaso Dogal) is a palace built in Venetian Gothic style, and one of the main landmarks of the city of Venice in northern Italy. The palace was the residence of the Doge of Venice, the supreme auth ...

. To this he received a favorable reply, and thereupon executed two paintings, which were burned in the fire of 1577. The subjects,

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, Sculpt ...

tells us, were ''Otho promising to mediate between Venice and

Barbarossa Barbarossa, a name meaning "red beard" in Italian, primarily refers to: * Frederick Barbarossa (1122–1190), Holy Roman Emperor * Hayreddin Barbarossa (c. 1478–1546), Ottoman admiral * Operation Barbarossa, the Axis invasion of the Soviet Un ...

'' and ''Barbarossa receiving his Son''. The Council were so pleased with the pictures that, in 1492, Alvise was named ''Depentor in Gran Conseio'', with a salary of five

ducats The ducat () coin was used as a trade coin in Europe from the later Middle Ages from the 13th to 19th centuries. Its most familiar version, the gold ducat or sequin containing around of 98.6% fine gold, originated in Venice in 1284 and gained wi ...

a month. Notwithstanding this work for the State, he continued to paint altar-pieces for private patrons. The ''Apotheosis of St. Ambrose'' (1503) in the Cappella Milimesi of the

Frari The Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, usually just called the Frari, is a church located in the Campo dei Frari at the heart of the San Polo district of Venice, Italy. The largest church in the city, it has the status of a minor basil ...

, Venice, was probably the last production of Alvise, as the inscription tells us that it was completed after his death by

Marco Basaiti Marco Basaiti (c. 1470–1530) was a Renaissance painter who worked mainly in Venice and was a contemporary of Giovanni Bellini and Cima da Conegliano.

, one of his pupils. File:Alvise Vivarini, Madonna col Bambino, 1485-90.jpg, ''Madonna col Bambino'', (1485–90) File:Alvise Vivarini, Cristo benedicente.jpg, ''Cristo benedicente'' (1494) File:Alvise Vivarini, Cristo risorto, 1497-98.jpg, ''Cristo risorto'', 1497–98 File:Alvise Vivarini San Juan Bautista 1475. Temple y óleo sobre tabla. 48,5 x 33,5 cm. Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza.jpg, ''Saint John the Baptist'', c. 1475.

References

Sources

External links

Alvise Vivarini at the National Gallery of Art
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vivarini, Alvise Italian Renaissance painters Quattrocento painters Painters from Venice 15th-century births 1500s deaths Italian male painters 15th-century Italian painters 16th-century Italian painters Republic of Venice artists