Giovanni da Milano

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Giovanni di Giacomo di Guido da Caversago (* in Caversaccio ), better known as Giovanni da Milano ( German  Giovanni from Milan ), was an Italian painter. He was active between 1346 and 1369.

Life

Birth of the Virgin , fresco in the Rinuccini Chapel of the Franciscan Church of Santa Croce in Florence

Giovanni da Milano came from Caversaccio near Milan in Lombardy . He moved to Florence before October 17, 1346 , as Johannes Jacobi de Commo included him in the directory of foreign painters in Florence for that day . In 1366 he became a citizen of the city. The next mention comes from the time between 1358 and 1363 as "Johannes Jacobi Guidonis de Mediolano" in the directory of the Florentine guild Arte dei Medici e Speziali . A tax refund dated December 26, 1363 mentions that he was a landowner in Ripoli, Tizzana , and owned a house in the municipality of San Pier Maggiore in Florence. In 1365, on the basis of a contract, he was commissioned to paint frescoes in the Rinuccini Chapel of the Franciscan Church of Santa Croce in Florence. It is documented for 1369 that Giovanni da Milano was commissioned by Pope Urban V to decorate two chapels in the Apostolic Palace of the Vatican in Rome . However, the frescoes have not been preserved. After this time there are no more traditions about the painter.

Style and works

The works of Giovanni da Milano are based on the Lombard style of his homeland, especially the Milanese style of the 1330s and 1340s, which was also represented by the painters Giovannino de 'Grassi and Michelino da Besozzo and can be characterized by accentuated colors. Giovanni da Milano adapted this style to the Florentine panel painting , which was mainly influenced by Giotto di Bondone and his successor. In addition, influences of painting from Siena , especially by Simone Martini , can be seen in the work of Giovanni da Milano .

The oldest surviving work is the tympanum fresco, which is dated to 1350 and depicts the Holy Madonna with the child among saints. It is now in Santa Maria delle Grazie in Mendrisio , but was originally in the Ospedale di San Giovanni church . The oldest signed work is a polyptych in the Pinacoteca in Prato from 1363. This was followed by a Pietà from 1365, which is now in the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno in Florence. In addition to these works and the frescoes in the Rinuccini Chapel, Giovanni da Milano's altarpieces in churches and monasteries in Tuscany are known.

  • Crucifixion, ca.1360–1365 (private collection, England)

  • Polyptych in the Prato Art Gallery , 1363

  • Fresco in the Rinuccini Chapel of the Santa Croce Church, after 1363

  • Choir of the Prophets (Uffizi Gallery, Florence)

The frescoes of the Virgin Mary in the Rinuccini Chapel of the Church of Santa Croce are among the most famous works of Giovanni da Milanos. According to DuMont's 1997 artist lexicon, the figures in the frescoes are characterized by “figures full of grace and dignity, standardized face types and the most economical accessories”, which radiate “an atmosphere of restraint and seriousness”.

Giovanni da Milano had a strong influence on the Lombard fresco painting after 1360, as evidenced by many examples in northern Italy.

literature

Web links

Commons : Giovanni da Milano  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

supporting documents

  1. ↑ Giovanni da Milano. In: Robert Darmstaedter, Ulrike von Hase-Schmundt (Hrsg.): Reclams Künstlerlexikon. Reclam, Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3-15-010412-2 , p. 268.
  2. ↑ a b c Giovanni da Milano. In: Herbert Read (Ed.): DuMonts Künstlerlexikon. DuMonts Buchverlag, Cologne 1997 ,. ISBN 3-7701-4015-X , pp. 223-224.
personal data
SURNAME Giovanni da Milano
ALTERNATIVE NAMES di Giacomo di Guido da Caversago, Giovanni; di Jacopo di Guido da Caversaccio, Giovanni; Johannes Jacobi Guidonis de Mediolano
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian painter of the late Gothic period
DATE OF BIRTH before 1346
PLACE OF BIRTH Lombardy
DATE OF DEATH after 1369