Salerno di Coppo

Salerno di Coppo was an Italian painter who probably worked between 1270 and 1310 (verifiable in 1274 ).

Life

Known facts and the resulting insights

Son of the painter Coppo di Marcovaldo , whose pupil he was. To date, only one document is known in which Salerno is mentioned. This is a petition from the head of the Cathedral of Pistoia , who in 1274 asked the city council to release the painter Salerno di Coppo, who was imprisoned in the debtor's tower. Together with his father, he was supposed to paint five “beautiful pictures” for the cathedral, of which only one crucifix has survived. For stylistic reasons this is mainly assigned to the Salerno. Despite the unmistakable proximity to the crucifix in San Gimignano , which is considered the undoubted work of Coppo di Marcovaldo, the crucifix showsin Pistoia a formal language that was alien to the father. This formal language also appears on a crucifixion fresco , also in Pistoia , which must have been painted shortly after the crucifix , because it already represents another departure from the father's works. From this fresco the path leads to two more panel paintings, a crucifixion and a saint Francis , whose proximity to the crucifix in the cathedral of Pistoia was recognized early on, but which can only be recognized as works by an artist through the crucifixion fresco .

The so-called Badia a Isola master

Since it is generally assumed that Salerno di Coppo, when he was only mentioned in ancient documents from 1274, was still very young, it is largely believed that he certainly did not die immediately after this date. So they started looking for more facts. Dieter Weidmann refers to the so-called Badia-a-Isola master among the huge number of early Italian panel paintings and frescoes that have not yet been assigned to any artist . In art history he is widely regarded as a painter who is reminiscent of both Duccio di Buoninsegna and Cimabue and acts as a mediator between them. He is named after his supposed main work, a maestà in Badia a Isola. Although many researchers consider the Badia a Isola master to be a pupil of Duccio, a number of stylistic features point to an older school of painting, so that it seems more logical to see him as a somewhat older contemporary. Many stylistic features in the pictures by this anonymous painter are very similar to the pictures, which are rightly considered to be works by Salerno di Coppo himself, so that Weidemann convincingly demonstrates that the Badia a Isola master is only Salerno can.

Further presumed life dates

There is a gap between the appearance of Salerno di Coppo, which, based on the works attributed to him, can be assumed up to around 1280 , and the first appearance of the Badia a Isola master , around 1290 , which, according to Weidemann, can easily be found with a group of works can be filled, which is around the so-called Crevolemadonna , which is very controversial in the authorship . These works appear stylistically as well as in the formal language, like a natural link between Salerno and the Badia a Isola master . There are so many figurative and design similarities that it is very likely that all panels were painted by the same hand.

The threshold from Duecento to Trecento is crossed by a small plaque with the flagellation of Christ , which is also very controversial in the authorship , and which is now in New York. Many familiar elements from Salerno's work also recur on it, so that Weidemann suspects that it was a later work by Salerno. He compares the panel with the flagellation depicted on the crucifix in Pistoia , which show numerous similarities and presumably originate from an artist who has developed artistically, but adheres to conventional design patterns in numerous details.

Résumé

Salerno di Coppo can probably be considered one of the most important and innovative painters at the end of the 13th century. Like hardly any other artist of his time, he knew how to combine the Florentine and Sienese painting schools and thus exerted an exemplary influence on the younger Duccio.

Works

• Badia a Isola, Church of Saints Salvator and Cyrinus
  • Maestà. around 1290-1300 (is ascribed to the Badia a Isola master)
• Bologna, Collezione privata
  • The crucifixion of Christ. around 1275-1280
• Campagnatico
  • Maria with the child. around 1280–1290 (attributed)
• Castelfiorentino, Pinacoteca
  • Maria with the child. around 1290-1300 (is ascribed to the Badia a Isola master)
• Grosseto, San Francesco
  • Crucifix. around 1290-1300 (is ascribed to the Badia a Isola master)
• New York, Frick Collection
  • The Flagellation of Christ. around 1300–1310 (attributed)
• Philadelphia, Institute of Art
  • Saint Francis. around 1275-1280
• Pistoia, Duomo
  • Crucifix. 1274
  • Maria with the child. around 1275–1280 (fresco fragment)
• Pistoia, San Domenico
  • The crucifixion of Christ. around 1275 (fresco)
• Siena, Duomo
  • Mary with the Child (Crevolemadonna). around 1280–1290 (attributed)
• Siena, Capuchin Convent
  • Maria with the child. around 1280–1290 (attributed)
• Siena, Pinacoteca Nazionale
  • Maria with the child. around 1290-1300 (is ascribed to the Badia a Isola master)
• Utrecht, Aartbisschoppelijk Museum
  • Maria with the child. around 1290-1300 (fragment - is attributed to the Badia a Isola master)
• Whereabouts unknown
  • Crucifix. around 1290–1300 (attributed to the Badia a Isola master - formerly Vienna, Lanckaronski collection)

literature

• Dieter Weidemann: "On the genesis of Trecento painting in the generation between Cimabue and Giotto", tuduv-Verlagsgesellschaft mbh, Munich, 1993, ISBN 3-88073-488-7