Giovanni d'Alemagna
Encyclopedia
Giovanni d'Alemagna was a German painter, active in Italy, who collaborated with his brother-in-law Antonio Vivarini
on various important religious paintings in Venice and Padua.
Although it is difficult to distinguish the two artists' contributions, Giovanni is associated with the St Jerome (1444), which carries the signature 'Johannes'. This painting suggests that Giovanni's work was generally flatter and more decorative than Antonio's more naturalistic style.
Giovanni d'Alemagna and Antonio Vivarini ran an extremely well organized shop in Venice that specialized in multi-tiered, multi-paneled altarpieces and fanciful Gothic frames, which they subcontracted to various woodworkers.
In 1446 Giovanni and Antonio signed and dated the triptych representing the Madonna and Child with Saints for the wall behind the officers' bench of the recently expanded meeting room of the Scuola della Carità (now part of the Gallerie dell'Accademia). Resembling an altarpiece but functioning as an inducement to good decision making, this monumental painting shows the four doctors of the Church (Sts Gregory and Jerome at the left, Ambrose and Augustine at the right) in a courtyard around a massive Madonna and Child. The Virgin's celestial court is vividly rendered with marbled pink and grey architecture, rich deep colours, costly robes, and lovingly observed plant life.
In 1448 he started working, together with Vivarini and Andrea Mantegna
, in the decoration of the Ovetari Chapel
in Padua, but died soon afterwards.
Antonio Vivarini
Antonio Vivarini was an Italian painter of the early Renaissance-late Gothic period, who worked mostly in the Republic of Venice...
on various important religious paintings in Venice and Padua.
Although it is difficult to distinguish the two artists' contributions, Giovanni is associated with the St Jerome (1444), which carries the signature 'Johannes'. This painting suggests that Giovanni's work was generally flatter and more decorative than Antonio's more naturalistic style.
Giovanni d'Alemagna and Antonio Vivarini ran an extremely well organized shop in Venice that specialized in multi-tiered, multi-paneled altarpieces and fanciful Gothic frames, which they subcontracted to various woodworkers.
In 1446 Giovanni and Antonio signed and dated the triptych representing the Madonna and Child with Saints for the wall behind the officers' bench of the recently expanded meeting room of the Scuola della Carità (now part of the Gallerie dell'Accademia). Resembling an altarpiece but functioning as an inducement to good decision making, this monumental painting shows the four doctors of the Church (Sts Gregory and Jerome at the left, Ambrose and Augustine at the right) in a courtyard around a massive Madonna and Child. The Virgin's celestial court is vividly rendered with marbled pink and grey architecture, rich deep colours, costly robes, and lovingly observed plant life.
In 1448 he started working, together with Vivarini and Andrea Mantegna
Andrea Mantegna
Andrea Mantegna was an Italian painter, a student of Roman archeology, and son in law of Jacopo Bellini. Like other artists of the time, Mantegna experimented with perspective, e.g., by lowering the horizon in order to create a sense of greater monumentality...
, in the decoration of the Ovetari Chapel
Ovetari Chapel
The Ovetari Chapel is a chapel in the right arm of the Church of the Eremitani in Padua. It is renowned for a Renaissance fresco cycle by Andrea Mantegna and others, painted from 1448 to 1457. The cycle was destroyed by an Allied bombing in 1944: today, only two scenes and a few fragments survive,...
in Padua, but died soon afterwards.