Altobello Melone was an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 painter

Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

 of the Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

.

Biography

He was born in Cremona

Cremona

Cremona is a city and comune in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po River in the middle of the Pianura Padana . It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local City and Province governments...

. His style merges Lombard with Mannerist

Mannerism

Mannerism is a period of European art that emerged from the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520. It lasted until about 1580 in Italy, when a more Baroque style began to replace it, but Northern Mannerism continued into the early 17th century throughout much of Europe...

 styles. In Cremona, he encountered the elder Girolamo Romanino. He was commissioned in December of 1516 to fresco the Cathedral of Cremona, work which continued till 1518. His contract required that his frescoes be more beautiful than his predecessor, Boccaccio Boccaccino

Boccaccio Boccaccino

Boccaccio Boccaccino was a painter of the early Italian Renaissance, belonging to the Emilian school. He is profiled in Vasari's Le Vite delle più eccellenti pittori, scultori, ed architettori .He was born in Ferrara and studied there, probably under Domenico Panetti...

. He worked alongside Giovanni Francesco Bembo

Giovanni Francesco Bembo

Giovanni Francesco Bembo was an Italian Renaissance painter from Cremona, mainly active from 1515-1543. He apprenticed with Boccaccio Boccaccino. In 1515, he painted two frescoes: Presentation in the Temple and an Adoration of the Magi for the Duomo of Cremona. He painted in 1524, an altarpiece for...

.

He contributed frescoes to the Cathedral of Cremona in 1516. The Lamentation

Lamentation of Christ

350px|thumb|Lamentation by [[Giotto di Bondone]] in the [[Scrovegni Chapel]]The Lamentation of Christ is a very common subject in Christian art from the High Middle Ages to the Baroque. After Jesus was crucified, his body was removed from the cross and his friends and family mourned over his body...

in the Brera

Brera

Brera is a district of Milan, ItalyBrera may also refer to:* the Palazzo Brera, a historical building in Brera; the palace also houses:** the Brera Art Academy** the Brera Art Gallery** the Brera Astronomical Observatory...

 comes in all probability from the church of Saint Lorenzo in Brescia

Brescia

Brescia is a city and comune in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, between the Mella and the Naviglio, with a population of around 197,000. It is the second largest city in Lombardy, after the capital, Milan...

 and dated 1512. The stylistic convergence with Romanino is particularly obvious, such that the contemporary Venetian Marcantonio Michiel

Marcantonio Michiel

Marcantonio Michiel was a Venetian noble from a family prominent in the service of the State who was interested himself in matters of art...

 describes the Cremonese painter as a disciple of Armanin.

In his masterpiece frescoes, Altobello aims to be an interpreter of the anticlassicismo and “expressionist” language emerging Romanino. The seven scenes realized by Altobello evince a new forcefulness - Massacre of the Innocents is emblematic and manifest in the gestures and in the grotesque transformation of the faces.

Selected works

• Madonna with Child and Saint John (c. 1510) - Accademia Carrara
  Accademia Carrara
  The Accademia Carrara is an art gallery and an academy of fine arts in Bergamo, Italy.-History:The origins of the art gallery lie with the Count Giacomo Carrara, a wealthy collector and patron of the arts, who left a generous legacy to the city of Bergamo at the end of the 18th century.After the...
  
  , Bergamo
• Adoration of Child (c. 1510) - Kunsthaus, Zürich (warehouse)
• Madonna with Child (c. 1511) - Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan
• Lamentation over dead Christ (1512) - Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
• Trasfiguration -Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest
• Portrait of Gentleman (Cesare Borgia) - Accademia Carrara
  Accademia Carrara
  The Accademia Carrara is an art gallery and an academy of fine arts in Bergamo, Italy.-History:The origins of the art gallery lie with the Count Giacomo Carrara, a wealthy collector and patron of the arts, who left a generous legacy to the city of Bergamo at the end of the 18th century.After the...
  
  , Bergamo
• Embrace of Lovers -Gemäldegalerie, Dresden
  Dresden
  Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
  
  
• Embrace of Lovers -Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest
• Adoration of Child (1512–1514) - Museo Berenziano, Cremona
• Portrait (1512–1515) -Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
• Lamentation over dead Christ -Archiepiscopal Picture gallery, Milan
• Christ Bearing the Cross (c. 1515) - National Gallery, London
• Mercy - Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo
  Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo
  The Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo is a public art collection in Brescia, Lombardy, northern Italy, exhibiting mainly paintings by local artists from the 13th through 18th centuries....
  
  , Brescia
• Road to Emmaus (c. 1516-1517) - National Gallery, London
• Sant'Elena Travels to Jerusalem in Search of Sacred Cross - private collection
• Frescoes in Cremona Cathedral
  Cremona Cathedral
  The Duomo di Cremona , dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta , is a church in Cremona, Lombardy, northern Italy and the episcopal see of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cremona...
  
   (1516–1518)
  • Flight to Egypt
  • Massacre of the Innocents
  • Last Supper
  • Washing of Jesus' Feet
  • Agony in the Garden
  • Capture of Christ
  • Jesus in front of Caiphas
• Adoration of the Shepherds (c. 1518) - Frescoes detached, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
• Resurrection (c. 1517) - Private collection
• Simonino from Trento (c. 1521) -Castello del Buonconsiglio
  Castello del Buonconsiglio
  -Construction:The castle originated from a fortified building erected in the 13th century next to the city's walls. This first edifice was called Castelvecchio , and was the seat of the Bishopric of Trent from the 13th century onwards....
  
  , Trento
• Madonna with Child (1520–1522) - Accademia Carrara, Bergamo
• Madonna with Child, Saint John and San Nicholas - Civic Museum Wing Ponzone, Cremona