Niccolò Circignani

Niccolò Circignani: Angels and Apostles making music (1588) in the dome frescoes of Santa Pudenziana , Rome

Niccolò Circignani (also: Nicolò and Cercignani, Cincignani, Cirgnani), called il Pomarancio (* approx. 1530 in Pomarance , † between late 1597 and March 1599 in Città della Pieve ) was an Italian mannerist painter .

Since there are two other painters with the surname " Pomarancio " - Niccolò's son Antonio Circignani and Cristoforo Roncalli , who is about a generation younger , is the authorship of many works known exclusively under this name, especially in Umbria , Tuscany and the Brands not clearly secured.

Life

Rosary Madonna , San Giovanni Battista, Pomarance

Little is known about Circignani's youth; his birth year, generally estimated to be around 1530, is based only on speculation. Vasari called him in his Vite published in 1568 a "young painter" (" pittore giovane "). Circignani was probably first a student of Daniele da Volterra and later apprenticed with Santi di Tito in Florence. Together with Santi and Giovanni de Vecchi , he also created his first documented works in 1562–63: some frescoes in the Belvedere of the Vatican in Rome .

He then went to Umbria , where he married Teodora in 1567 in Città della Pieve , a daughter of Girolamo Catalucci. They had six children together, including the firstborn Antonio, who also became a painter and was called " Pomarancio ".

Together with Hendrick van den Broeck , Niccolò Circignani founded a working group in Orvieto at the end of 1564 . 1565-66 he created several works for the cathedral of Orvieto , and in 1568 also painted frescoes in the church Maestà delle Volte in Perugia , as well as a resurrection (1569) in Panicale . Further stations of his work were Umbertide (1572), Città della Pieve and Città di Castello (1573–1577), where he was awarded honorary citizenship in 1577 for his extensive painting activities ; A Maria Immacolata and an Annunciation from 1577 (today in the Città di Castello Pinacoteca) have survived.

He created frescoes with mythological themes such as the Judgment of Paris and the Story of Aeneas in collaboration with Giovanni Antonio Pandolfi in the Palazzo della Corgna in Castiglione del Lago .

In 1579 he returned to Rome to decorate the Sala della Meridiana in the Tower of the Winds in the Vatican with Mathijs Bril ; Bril was responsible for the landscapes, and Circignani for the elegantly moving figures. In the church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli he painted the frescoes on the side walls in the Cappella della Pietà and in the Cappella di San Paolo .

Martyrdom of St. Primus (detail), from the fresco cycle in Santo Stefano Rotondo , Rome

From 1582 to 1583 one of his most famous works was created, the frescoes in the Basilica of Santo Stefano Rotondo . First he painted 24 scenes on the barriers around the central high altar in yellowish grisaille painting and in imitation of reliefs , which depict the story of Saint Stephen . He was then commissioned to paint depictions of martyrdoms on the wall of the surrounding colonnade . The landscape and architecture backgrounds were created by Matteo da Siena. The fresco cycle with 32 pictures begins with the crucifixion of Jesus and follows on from the martyrdom of Stephen, followed by another 30 pictures depicting the martyrdoms of Catholic saints, some with drastic details. The cycle is considered to be an important work of Mannerism in Rome, but is very poorly preserved because of the unfavorable local conditions (including thin outer walls) and because of later overpainting; Because of the terrible subject matter, the pictures were regarded as "the ugliest painting in Rome" for centuries and were therefore neglected. Only a few years after its creation, engravings of the cycle of martyrs were published in Santo Stefano Rotondo, and Circignani himself repeated the cycle in the English college of San Tommaso di Canterbury - but this was later lost (like the entire old church).

St. Francis before the Sultan , 1583–85, San Giovanni dei Fiorentini , Rome

Circignani's artistically most important works include the frescoes in the first two chapels on the left in Il Gesù (around 1585), and some pictures of the life of St. Francis of Assisi in San Giovanni dei Fiorentini , in which he is clearly influenced by Michelangelo . Other large and important fresco cycles in Rome from its maturity are only partially preserved, including the blessing Christ with angels (1587) in the apse by Santi Giovanni e Paolo , and the Christ in Glory with angels in the dome of Santa Pudenziana (1588; see Fig. Above). For Cardinal Albert, Archduke of Austria, he created a cycle of the Holy Cross in the Cappella di Sant 'Elena of the Church of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme in 1590 , which was restored around 1980.

In San Filippo Neri nel Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne he created the altarpiece of the high altar with the depiction of the miracle of St. Filippo Neri .

In the last 10 years of his life, Circignani spent increasing amounts of time in Città della Pieve in Umbria, where he bought a piece of land in 1594 and was made an honorary citizen.

His last documented works were created in 1596: an Annunciation in the cathedral of Città di Castello , which has been lost since 1809 , and a signed and dated Annunciation for the Church of San Francesco in Cascia.

The exact time of his death is not known: according to a document dated November 1597, he was still living in Città della Pieve at that time; but for March 1599 it is documented that his wife Teodora was already a widow.

plant

Niccolò Circignani was a very typical representative of Mannerism , and especially of the three painters named Pomarancio , the one who can most clearly be assigned to this style throughout his entire oeuvre. In his painting he starts out from Tuscan models that still belonged to the Renaissance, such as B. Fra Bartolomeo , added to this is the elegance and loveliness of artists such as Parmigianino and (to a lesser extent) Correggio or Barrocci ; in late works in Rome ( San Giovanni dei Fiorentini ) also by Michelangelo or the Roman Mannerists. His style is very decorative (in a positive sense). Compared to other painters working in Rome at the same time, such as the Federico brothers or Taddeo Zuccari u. a. his particularly graceful and elegant, almost dance-like figures are striking. In his color palette he also uses all sorts of chromatic gradations of bright yellow , golden yellow and orange tones - it is quite possible that he understood this as " bitter orange " and as a distinguishing feature of his maniera and as a conscious allusion to his (self-chosen ?) Chose the nickname Pomarancio (which was actually derived from his place of birth Pomarance ). His best works in Rome include the frescoes in the dome of Santa Pudenziana , in the apse by Santi Giovanni e Paolo , and the Sala della Meridiana in the Tower of the Winds in the Vatican Palace.

His reputation as a painter of the brutal, "ugly" (and poorly preserved) martyr scenes of Santo Stefano Rotondo stands in curious contradiction to his clear tendencies towards lovely, graceful grace and elegance and bright, cheerful colors . Another cycle of martyrs in Santi Nereo e Achilleo , which revolves around the early Christian saints Domitilla, Nereus and Achilles and was created at the request of Cesare Baronio 1596–98, has been attributed to " Pomarancio " to the present day and is believed to be a work by Niccolò Circignani - this ascription is now being questioned and is "under discussion". The attribution is very questionable solely because of Circignani’s very late date of creation 1596–98, which may even collide with the time of his death, and because the artist actually lived in Città della Pieve since 1594 at the latest. Stylistic reasons also speak against Niccolò Circignani.

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  Niccolò Circignani and Mathijs Bril : Jesus calms the storm on the Sea of ​​Galilee , fresco in the Sala della Meridiana, Tower of the Winds , Vatican

literature

• Michele Cordaro:  CIRCIGNANI (Cincignani, Cercignani, Cirgnani), Nicolo, detto il Pomarancio. In: Alberto M. Ghisalberti (Ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 25:  Chinzer – Cirni. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1981. (main source of this article)
• RP Ciardi: Niccolò Cercignani, Cristoforo Roncalli, pittori di Pomarance , Volterra 1992.
• Cristina Degl'Innocenti: Il Pomarancio: Nicolò Circignani , Edizioni dell'Erba, Fucecchio 1997.
• Luciano Festuccia: Castiglione del Lago , Perugia 1985.
• Cristina Galassi: Niccolò Circignani il Pomarancio "prattico" e "spedito pittore" , Petruzzi editore, Perugia 2007.
• Sonia Testa: Abbazia di Valvisciolo , "Vallis Lusciniae" Ars et Historia, 2007.
• Sonia Testa: L'eremo di San Francesco , Arte e Storia, 2007.
• Sonia Testa: Niccolò Circignani detto il Pomarancio "prattico pittore", "huomo di grand'inventione e prestezza" .

Web links

Commons : Niccolò Circignani  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Niccolò Circignani on "artcyclopedia" (accessed on February 10, 2019)
• List of works (selection) by Circignani Nicolò (Pomarancio) in the Fondazione Zeri of the University of Bologna
• British Museum: Niccolò Circignani (short biography; English) accessed on April 28, 2013

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q} Michele Cordaro:  CIRCIGNANI (Cincignani, Cercignani, Cirgnani), Nicolo, detto il Pomarancio. In: Alberto M. Ghisalberti (Ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 25:  Chinzer – Cirni. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1981. (accessed February 8, 2019)
2. ^ Vatican Gregorian-Etruscan Museum, Room 3 , accessed on April 28, 2013.
3. ↑ Vatican Secret Archives: Tower of the Winds ( Memento of May 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
4. ^ Martyrdom scenes by Niccolò Circignani (wga.hu; English) accessed on April 26, 2013
5. ↑ ^{a b c d} Peter B. Steiner (?): Santo Stefano Rotondo on the Caelius in Rome (official guide), Verlagsanstalt Athesia Ges.mbH, Bozen, 1991, p. 24
6. ↑ Pittura del '600 e' 700. Ricerche in Umbria , Vol. I, Treviso 1976, No. 23, p. 244; here after: Michele Cordaro:  CIRCIGNANI (Cincignani, Cercignani, Cirgnani), Nicolo, detto il Pomarancio. In: Alberto M. Ghisalberti (Ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 25:  Chinzer – Cirni. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1981. (accessed February 8, 2019)
7. ↑ Canuti, 1952, p. 224; here after: Michele Cordaro:  CIRCIGNANI (Cincignani, Cercignani, Cirgnani), Nicolo, detto il Pomarancio. In: Alberto M. Ghisalberti (Ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 25:  Chinzer – Cirni. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1981. (accessed February 8, 2019)
8. ^ "Arte e architettura - Basilica Ss. Nereo-Achilleo" on the website of the parish of S. Maria in Vallicella (Italian; last accessed on February 11, 2019). Regarding the frescoes with the martyrdom of Domitilla, Nereus and Achilles in the actual nave, it says: " La loro attribuzione " (ie the attribution of the frescoes; note by the author ) " è discussa. Per molto tempo si è parlato del Pomarancio . "(in the section" Gli affreschi ed i mosaici "). The somewhat awkward martyr scenes in the side aisles are only considered a work of the "Roman school from the end of the 16th century" (" Alle pareti, affreschi di scuola romana della fine del Cinquecento rappresentanti scene di martiri. "; In the section " Le navate laterali ") .
9. ↑ Santi Nereo e Achilleo in "romanchurches" (English; last accessed on February 11, 2019). This text says about the frescoes in the nave (not the aisles!): "The fresco cycle along the central side walls of the nave, commissioned by Cardinal Baronius, have long been attributed to Niccolò Circignani nicknamed Il Pomarancio. It is now considered that this attribution is uncertain, and the work is best described as "in the style of".