Bacchiacca - Portrait of a Woman and Child - Allegory of Liberality

Francesco d'Ubertino Verdi, called Bachiacca (say “bah ki ah ka”). He is also known as Francesco Ubertini, il Bacchiacca (1494–1557). He was an Italian painter of the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

whose work is characteristic of the Florentine

Mannerist 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 Ita ...

style.

Life

Bachiacca was born and baptized in Florence on 1 March 1494 and died there on 5 October 1557. Saint Sebastian by Bacchiacca - BMA

Bachiacca belonged to a family of at least five, and possibly as many as eight artists. His father Ubertino di Bartolomeo (ca. 1446/7-1505) was a goldsmith, his older brother Bartolomeo d'Ubertino Verdi (aka Baccio 1484-c.1526/9) was a painter, and his younger brother Antonio d'Ubertino Verdi (1499–1572)—who also called himself Bachiacca—was both an embroiderer and painter. Francesco's son Carlo di Francesco Verdi (-1569) painted and Antonio's son Bartolomeo d'Antonio Verdi (aka Baccino -1600) worked as an embroiderer. This latter generation probably continued to produce paintings and embroideries after Bachiacca's death and until the Verdi family extinguished about the year 1600. Bachiacca apprenticed in

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. Ea ...

's Florentine studio, and by 1515 began to collaborate with Andrea del Sarto,

Jacopo Pontormo Jacopo Carucci (May 24, 1494 – January 2, 1557), usually known as ''Jacopo da Pontormo'', ''Jacopo Pontormo'', or simply Pontormo, was an Italian Mannerist painter and portraitist from the Florentine School. His work represents a profound sty ...

and Francesco Granacci on the decoration of ''

cassone A cassone (plural ''cassoni'') or marriage chest is a rich and showy Italian type of chest, which may be inlaid or carved, prepared with gesso ground then painted and gilded. ''Pastiglia'' was decoration in low relief carved or moulded in ges ...

'' (chest), '' spalliera'' (wainscot), and other painted furnishings for the bedroom of Pierfrancesco Borgherini and Margherita Acciauoli. In 1523, he again participated with Andrea del Sarto,

Franciabigio Franciabigio (1482 – 24 January 1525) was an Italian painter of the Florentine Renaissance. His true name may have been Francesco di Cristofano; he is also referred to as either Marcantonio Franciabigio or Francia Bigio. Life and career He wa ...

and Pontormo in the decoration of the antechamber of Giovanni Benintendi. While he established a reputation as a painter of predellas and small cabinet pictures, he eventually expanded his output to include large altarpieces, such as the ''Beheading of St. John the Baptist'', now in Berlin. In 1540, Bachiacca became an artist at the court of Duke

Cosimo I de' Medici Cosimo I de' Medici (12 June 1519 – 21 April 1574) was the second Duke of Florence from 1537 until 1569, when he became the first Grand Duke of Tuscany, a title he held until his death. Life Rise to power Cosimo was born in Florence on 12 ...

(reg. 1537-1574) and Duchess

Eleanor of Toledo Eleanor of Toledo (Italian: ''Eleonora di Toledo'', 11 January 1522 – 17 December 1562), born Doña Leonor Álvarez de Toledo y Osorio, was a Spanish noblewoman and Duchess of Florence as the first wife of Cosimo I de' Medici. A keen businessw ...

. In this capacity, Bachiacca was a colleague and peer of the most important Florentine artists of the age, including Pontormo, Bronzino, Francesco Salviati, Tribolo, Benvenuto Cellini,

Baccio Bandinelli Baccio Bandinelli (also called Bartolommeo Brandini; 12 November 1493 – shortly before 7 February 1560), was an Italian Renaissance sculptor, draughtsman, and painter. Biography Bandinelli was the son of a prominent Florentine goldsmith, ...

, and his in-law, the sculptor Giovanni Battista del Tasso. Bachiacca's first major commission was to paint the walls and ceiling of the duke's private study with plants, animals and a landscape, which remain an important testimony of Cosimo's interest in botany and the natural sciences.

Work

Only one signed work by Francesco is known, the decoration of a Terrace for the duchess and her children, with his abbreviated Christian name and nickname: "FRANC. BACHI. FACI." His works typically contain carefully observed illustrations of nature. The artist's trademark method and style consists of the combination of figures, exotic costumes and other motifs acquired from Italian artists and German and Netherlandish prints into entirely new compositions. These cosmopolitan assemblages exhibited the most praiseworthy elements of both Flemish and Italian Renaissance art, which appealed to his courtly clientele. Bacchiacca - Moses Striking the Rock

Bachiacca also made cartoons for two series of tapestries, the ''Grotesque Spalliere'' (1545–49) and the ''Months'' (1550–1553), which were woven by the newly founded Medici tapestry works.La France 2008, 229-244, cat. 69-78 and 257-264, cat. 85-88; Lucia Meoni, ''Gli arazzi della collezione fiorentina: le manifatture medicee da Cosimo I a Cosimo II, 1545-1621'' (Florence: Sillabe), 1998, 172-184 and 143-146. As a court painter, Bachiacca created ''Saint Sebastian'' during the 1530s-1540s, on the subject of the death of

Saint Sebastian Saint Sebastian (in Latin: ''Sebastianus''; Narbo, Gallia Narbonensis, Roman Empire c. AD 255 – Rome, Italia, Roman Empire c. AD 288) was an early Christian saint and martyr. According to traditional belief, he was killed during the Diocle ...

, a Christian nobleman condemned to death by the Roman emperor Diocletian. Originally it was surmised that the panel could have functioned as a section to an altarpiece.

Works

His works include: *Madonna and Child at th
Metropolitan Museum of Art New York
early 1520s. This painting was used as
2018 Christmas stamp by the United States Postal Service.
* ''Predella with the Life of St. Achatius,'' and the Ten Thousand Martyrs,1521 at the

*''Portrait of a Young Lute Player,'' 1524-25
New Orleans Museum of Art
*''Ghismonda with Heart of Guiscardo,'' 1520s
Lowe Art Museum, University of MiamiAlso here
, an

an
Recto
*''Madonna and Child with St. John,'' c. 1525
Dallas Museum of Art
*''Saint Sebastian,'' c. 1530s-1540s
Birmingham Museum of Art
*''The Gathering of Manna'', c. 1540/1555

Washington D.C. *''Deposition'' c. 1518 at th

*''Conversion of Saint Paul'' 1530-1535 at th
Memorial Art Gallery
Rochester, New York

Gallery

File:Madonna and Child in a Landscape2.jpg, Madonna and Child in a Landscape File:S. Lawrence by Bacchiacca (Hermitage).jpg, St. Lawrence File:'Ghismonda with Heart of Guiscardo', by Bacchiacca, 1520s, oil on wood, Lowe Art Museum.JPG, Ghismonda with Heart of Guiscardo File:'Ghismonda with Heart of Guiscardo', by Bacchiacca, reverse with coat of arms, 1520s.JPG, Ghismonda, reverse File:Bacchiacca - Eva con Caino e Abele (Metropolitan Museum of Art).jpg, Eve with Cain and Abel File:Bacchiacca - Portrait of a young lady holding a cat.jpg, Portrait of a young lady holding a cat

References

Sources

External links

*
''Italian Paintings: Florentine School''
a collection catalog containing information about Bacchiacca and his works (see pages: 193-195; MMA
38.178
. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bacchiacca, Francesco Italian Renaissance painters Italian Mannerist painters Painters from Florence 15th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 16th-century Italian painters 1494 births 1557 deaths