Giovanni di Paolo

St. Fabian and St. Sebastian

The creation and the expulsion from paradise

Madonna and Child in a Landscape

Saint Catherine of Siena dictates their dialogue

The head of John the Baptist is brought to Herod

Madonna , 1445, Uffizi Gallery

Giovanni di Paolo (* around 1403 in Siena ; † 1482 there ) was an Italian painter of the early Renaissance and a main representative of the Siena School of the 15th century. Since he lived in the municipality of Poggio, he is also known under the name Giovanni del Poggio.

life and work

It is unclear from whom Giovanni di Paolo received his training. His early works show influences from artists such as Gregorio di Cecco , Benedetto di Bindo and Martino di Bartolomeo , Taddeo di Bartolo and Stefano di Giovanni . Even Gentile da Fabriano , who was 1425-26 at Siena, can be regarded as one of his teachers. It is mentioned for the first time as an artist in 1417 on a proof of payment for the miniature painting in a book of hours for the Castiglioni family.

In the early works, an individual style developed that is characterized by particularly strong colors and elongated shapes. Examples include the Passion of Christ for the Church of San Domenico in Siena, the Pecci Altar from 1426 and the Branchini Altar.

In the following years Giovanni di Paolo was influenced by the artists of the bronze reliefs on the baptismal font in the Baptistery of San Giovanni. These include Jacopo della Quercia , Donatello and Lorenzo Ghiberti . He combined their motifs and led early Renaissance art to an almost expressionist style of painting . This becomes clear with the Virgin Mary of 1431, the Osservanza crucifixion , the triptych in Sant'Andrea, the altar in the Uffizi and the Pizzicaioli altar.

In his numerous works, which were created in the middle two decades of the century, Giovanni di Paolo designed his works with an imaginative pseudo perspective and reintroduced the elongated elegant forms of late Gothic art. In contrast to the younger painters of his time, works with great plasticity were created at the same time. Outstanding examples of this creative period are Paradise and the Expulsion from Paradise and eleven pictures from the life of John the Baptist.

The artist retained his unmistakable style, with a characteristic for a dreamy atmosphere and disregard for the laws of perspective, until his later pictures, such as the altar in the cathedral of Pienza from 1463.

Works

• The Passion of Christ (San Domenico) , Pinacoteca Nazionale , Siena
• Crucifixion of Christ , 1426, Lindenau Museum Altenburg
• Pecci Altar , 1426, Castelnuovo Berardenga, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena and Walters Art Museum, Baltimore
• Branchini Madonna , 1427, Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena
• Virgin Mary , 1431, Santa Maria dei Servi, Siena
• Madonna and Child in a Landscape , c.1532, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
• The Annunciation and the Expulsion from Paradise , circa 1435, National Gallery of Art , Washington DC
• Osservanza Crucifixion , 1440, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena
• Madonna and Child , around 1440–45, Lindenau Museum Altenburg
• The Crucifixion of Christ , around 1440–1445, Gemäldegalerie Berlin , property of the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museums-Verein
• Adoration of the Magi , around 1442, Cleveland Museum of Art
• Triptych , 1445, Sant'Andrea, Siena
• Altar , 1445, Uffizi Gallery, Florence
• The Creation and Expulsion from Paradise , 1445, Metropolitan Museum of Art , New York
• Paradise , 1445, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• Pizzicaioli altar , 1447–1449, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena
• Saint Catherine of Siena dictates their dialogue , around 1447–49, Detroit Institute of Arts
• The Adoration of the Magi , circa 1450, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
• The Baptism of Christ , about 1450, Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena
• Noli me tangere (attributed to), around 1450–55, Lindenau Museum Altenburg
• Saint Nicholas , 1453, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena
• The Rest of John the Baptist in the Desert , around 1454, National Gallery, London
• The Birth of John the Baptist , around 1454, National Gallery, London
• The head of John the Baptist is brought to Herod , circa 1454, National Gallery London
• The Nativity , around 1454, National Gallery of London
• Saint Nicholas of Tolentino saving a ship , c. 1455, Philadelphia Museum of Art
• The Coronation of the Virgin , 1455, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• Ecce Agnus Dei (See the Lamb of God) , c. 1455–60, Art Institute of Chicago
• John the Baptist Enters the Wild , c. 1455–60, Art Institute of Chicago
• Saint Catherine of Siena dressed as a Dominican , around 1460, Cleveland Museum of Art
• Saint Catherine of Siena and the Beggar , around 1460, Cleveland Museum of Art
• Altar , 1463, Pienza Cathedral
• Last Judgment, Heaven and Hell , around 1465, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena
• The procession of St. Gregorius , around 1465–1470, Louvre, Paris
• Staggia Altar , 1475, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena
• Assumption of the Virgin , 1475, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena
• Saints Fabian and Sebastian , between 1475 and 1482, National Gallery of London

literature

• John Pope-Hennessy: Giovanni di Paolo . London 1937
• Cesare Brandi: Giovanni di Paolo . Florence 1947
• Janneke Johanna Anje Panders: The underdrawing of Giovanni di Paolo . Berlin 1997 ISBN 90-367-0836-2
• Carl B. Strehlke: Giovanni di Paolo in the exhibition catalog Painting in Renaissance Siena, 1420-1500 Metropolitan Museum New York 1988 ISBN 0-87099-529-4
• Ingeborg Bähr: The altarpiece of Giovanni di Paolo from S. Domenico in Siena Art History Institute in Florence MittKIF 31 1987: Pages 357-366.

Web links

Commons : Giovanni di Paolo  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Works by Giovanni di Paolo at Zeno.org .
• Works by Giovanni di Paolo in the Lindenau Museum