Mario Minniti

Minniti at the age of 16 as a model for Caravaggio's painting The Boy with the Fruit Basket .

Mario Minniti (born December 8, 1577 in Syracuse ; † November 22, 1640 ibid) was an Italian Baroque painter in Sicily .

Life

After the death of his parents he came to Rome in 1593 , where shortly afterwards he met Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio , who worked for the workshop of Giuseppe Cesari , known as Cavaliere d'Arpino. It is certain that from 1593 Minniti was Caravaggio's model for a number of his early paintings with androgynous boys, such as B. “The Boy with the Fruit Basket” (1593, Rome, Galleria Borghese), “The Musicians” (1594, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art ), “The Fortune Teller” (1594, Rome, Pinacoteca Capitolina ) and “Bacchus “(1595, Florence, Galleria degli Uffici ).

It is said that Minniti took part in the dissolute life of the circle of friends around Caravaggios. After numerous previous imprisonments, Caravaggio injured Ranuccio Tomassoni so badly on May 28, 1606 during a quarrel that he died a short time later and Caravaggio had to flee from Rome before a threatened conviction. Minniti also left Rome for Sicily immediately after this act. In Syracuse he successfully built up his own career as an artist and from here he stood up for Caravaggio by sending a pardon to Rome and, in 1608, when he fled again, offered him quarters in his house for a long time. Stylistically, Minniti followed Caravaggio's style of painting by emulating his chiaroscuro ( chiaroscuro ( chiaroscuro ), but without reaching the artistic quality of his model. Nevertheless, Minniti was together with Alonso Rodriguez the most important exponent of Caravaggism in Sicily.

The five wounds , workshop of Mario Minniti, shows the characteristic chiaroscuro of Caravaggism. Agira (Enna), Sicily - Chiesa di San Antonio.
Mario Minniti Miracolo della vedova di Naim

Works

Castello Ursino , Pinacoteca ( Catania ): Flagellation of Christ and allegorical scene
Chiesa San Antonio ( Agira ): The five wounds of Christ
Chiesa Santa Maria di Betlem ( Modica ): Madonna, Child, Benedict and Cosmas and Damian
Fondazione Lucifero ( Milazzo ): Flagellation of Christ and Carrying of the Cross
Museo Regionale di Messina : Beheading of John ; The miracle of Nain ; Circumcision and Madonna del Rosario
Palazzo Bellomo (Syracuse): Martyrdom of S. Lucia ; The miracle of S. Clara
Museo della Cattedrale ( Mdina ): Ecce Homo
San Pietro al Carmine (Syracuse): The four crowned saints
Museo Diozesano (Catania) Crucifixion
Chiesa San Benedetto (Syracuse): S. Benedict prepares his grave
Chiesa San Sebastiano (Buscemi) : Adoration of the three kings

literature

Gioacchino Barbera, Vera Greco (Eds.): Mario Minniti. L'eredita di Caravaggio a Siracusa. Electa Napoli, Naples 2004, ISBN 88-510-0224-X .
Christoph L. Frommel: Caravaggio and his models. In: Castrum Peregrini . Volume 96, 1971, ISSN 0008-7556 , pp. 21-56.
Mario Menniti. In: Jakob Philipp Hackert : Memorie De 'Pittori Messinesi e Degli Esteri che in Messina fiorirono dal secolo XII. fino al secolo XIX. Papparlando, Messina 1821, pp. 83-86 ( babel.hathitrust.org ).
Alberto Macchi: L'Uomo Caravaggio. Atto Unico. Aetas, Rome 1995, ISBN 88-85172-19-9 .
Minniti, Mario . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General lexicon of fine artists from antiquity to the present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 24 : Mandere – Möhl . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1930, p. 580 .
Donatella Spagnolo: Minniti, Mario. In: Mario Caravale (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani . Volume 74: Messi – Miraglia. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 2010 (Italian, treccani.it ).

Web links

Commons : Mario Minniti - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

personal data
SURNAME	Minniti, Mario
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Menniti, Mario
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Italian painter
DATE OF BIRTH	December 8, 1577
PLACE OF BIRTH	Syracuse
DATE OF DEATH	November 22, 1640
Place of death	Syracuse