Master of the Pietá Fogg

Master of the Pietá Fogg: Lamentation of Christ ( Pietá ), Italy, around 1310

As a master of the Pietá Fogg ( English Master of the Fogg Pietá) is a painter of the early Renaissance in Italy at the beginning of the 14th century. The artist, who is not known by name, was probably active in Florence and Assisi from around 1310 to 1340 .

Naming

Nothing more is known about the life of the master of Pietá Fogg . It got its emergency name after its small-format picture, only 43 centimeters wide and 48 centimeters high, which shows the Pietà , the mother of Jesus after being deposed from the cross with the body of her son on a gilded background . It is now in the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the United States. The picture may have been part of an altar.

Maestro di Figline

Maestro di Figline: Madonna and Child, Italy, around 1310

The master of Pietá Fogg is also credited with a depiction of the Virgin Mary with baby Jesus, saints and angels, the Madonna in trono col Bambino , which is located in the Collegiata di Santa Maria church in Figline Valdarno, south of Florence. Therefore he is sometimes still referred to as the master of Figline .

meaning

The work of the master of Pietá Fogg is still little known even among art historians . However, experts in the history of the Italian Renaissance regard him as one of the most important painters of the Trecento , the period after 1300, as he is said to have decisively influenced the development of Italian painting at the beginning of this epoch. The master continued stylistic elements in his works, which, also in Florence, were already found in the painter Giotto di Bondone , who was regarded as a pioneer of the Renaissance and which he used for the lively and spatial representation of the events. For example, the facial expression of Pietá Fogg realistically expresses the suffering of Mary and the movements of the other figures show their immediate sympathy. Furthermore, a rock in the background not only suggests nature in a formulaic manner, as was previously the case in painting of the Middle Ages and especially icon painting , which is also known in Italy , but the master uses it to create realistic perspective and depth of space.

By comparing styles , several other works are ascribed to the master of Pietá Fogg , all of which, in addition to the influence of Giotto's Florentine painting, also show an influence of painting from Siena in the tradition of Simone Martini . The pictures show the beginning of a three-dimensional, realistic and well-proportioned representation of figures whose gestures and facial expressions invite participation in what is happening and whose spatial representation creates a lively plot.

Works (selection)

The following paintings are attributed to the master of Pietá Fogg :

• Pietà , Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts, inv. No. 1927.306
• God the Father , Musée du Petit Palais, Avignon
• Saint Lawrence , Courtauld Gallery, London
• Saint Paul , CJH Van Heek Collection, 's Heerenbergh
• Two icons, Worcester Art Museum. Worcester, Massachusetts
  • Saint Phillip ,
  • Saint Francis 1923.19

It is also assumed that the master of Pietá Fogg also worked as a glass and fresco painter . The following works of these genres are ascribed to him:

• Stained glass and frescoes in chapels of Santa Croce Church, Florence
• Frescoes in the sacristy of the basilica and windows in the lower church of Assisi
• Frescoes in the Church of Santa Maria in Arce in Rocca Sant'Angelo

identification

With the assignment of glass pictures it was also suggested that the master of Pietá Fogg could be the glass and picture painter Giovanni di Bonino. This can be traced from 1325 to 1345 and created windows with saints in Orvieto and Perugia. However, this painter is close to the Umbrian school . Therefore, this identification is not generally recognized, since the master of Pietá Fogg shows the influence of Florentine painting more directly and therefore probably worked in the city of Florence.

It has also been attempted to argue that the master of Pietá Fogg was more likely to be active in the mid to late 14th century, but his connection to Giotto's style shows that his work is much more likely at the beginning of this century.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Austin Nevin: The Master of the Fogg Pietá - Maestro di Figline Project (summary of the project in collaboration with the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation). London 2009 ( online )
2. ↑ Miklós Boskovits: A Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting Vol. 3, 9. Florence 1984, pp. 60-61.
3. ↑ Giuseppe Marchini: Il giottesco Giovanni di Bonino . In: Giotto e il suo tempo, Atti del congressointernazionale per la celebrazione del VII centenario della nascita di Giotto, Assisi - Padova - Firenze 1967. Rome 1971, pp. 67-78; Giuseppe Marchini: Le vetrate della Basilica di San Francesco . In: Giotto e giotteschi in Assisi. Con Introduzione di Giuseppe Palumbo. Rom, Assisi 1969, pp. 271-299.

literature

• Richard Offner: The Master of the Fogg Pietà . In: Art in America 14 (1926), pp. 160f.
• Richard Offner: The Master of the Fogg Pietà . In: Studies in Florentine Painting. The Fourteenth Century . New York 1927, pp. 49-57.
• Richard Offner: A Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting Vol. 3, 6, New York 1956, pp.?.
• Luisa Marcucci: Al 'Maestro di Figline' a Giottino . In: Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen 5, 1963, pp. 14–43.
• Giuseppe Marchini: Le vetrate della Basilica di San Francesco . In: Giotto e giotteschi in Assisi , Roma 1969, pp. 271-299.
• Joanna Cannon: Maestro di Figline / Maestro della Pietà Fogg , San Francesco e San Filippo. In: Giotto e il Trecento, Roma. Complesso del Vittoriano 6 marzo - 29 giugno 2009 . Milan 2009 (exhibition catalog), pp. 188–190-
• Miklós Boskovits: A Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting Vol. 3, 9. Florence 1984, p.
• Edgar Peters Bowron: European Painting Before 1900 in the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University Art Museums . Cambridge, MA, 1990, p.

Web links

• Master of the Fogg Pietà : Pietà illustration on the website of the Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Austin Nevin: The Master of the Fogg Pietá - Maestro di Figline Project (summary of the project in collaboration with the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation). London 2009 ( online )