Lo Spagna
Encyclopedia
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...
, active in central Italy
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...
. His name was Giovanni di Pietro, but known as Lo spagno because he was born in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
.
After Raphael
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur...
, he was a main pupil and follower of the Umbria
Umbria
Umbria is a region of modern central Italy. It is one of the smallest Italian regions and the only peninsular region that is landlocked.Its capital is Perugia.Assisi and Norcia are historical towns associated with St. Francis of Assisi, and St...
n painter Perugino
Pietro Perugino
Pietro Perugino , born Pietro Vannucci, was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Umbrian school, who developed some of the qualities that found classic expression in the High Renaissance...
, to whom his painters bear high resemblance. He should not be confused with Pietro di Giovanni D'Ambrogio, the brother of the Siennese painter Vecchietta
Vecchietta
Francesco di Giorgio e di Lorenzo , known as Vecchietta or Lorenzo di Pietro, was an Italian Sienese School painter, sculptor, goldsmith and architect of the Renaissance...
in Siena
Siena
Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. It is one of the nation's most visited tourist attractions, with over 163,000 international arrivals in 2008...
.
Lo Spagna is known for a number of major works completed in the region, that include the Birth of the Virgin from Spineta in Todi
Todi
Todi is a town and comune of the province of Perugia in central Italy. It is perched on a tall two-crested hill overlooking the east bank of the river Tiber, commanding distant views in every direction.In the 1990s, Richard S...
, the Adoration of the Magi of Ferentillo and the Nativity of St Anthony in Perugia
Perugia
Perugia is the capital city of the region of Umbria in central Italy, near the River Tiber, and the capital of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area....
. Lo Spagna married Santina Martorelli from one of Spoleto
Spoleto
Spoleto is an ancient city in the Italian province of Perugia in east central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennines. It is S. of Trevi, N. of Terni, SE of Perugia; SE of Florence; and N of Rome.-History:...
's leading families and here he was nominated Capitano delle Arti dei Pittori e degli Orefici in 1517. He died in 1528, possibly of the plague.
Giovanni di Pietro completed the decoration of the apse and two chapels of the church of San Giacomo in Spoleto. The records indicate that some thirty inhabitants of the parish contributed payment for the work, which was completed in 1526. The apse vault is frescoed with the Coronation of the Virgin and St James, while after Lo Spagno's death the chapel frescoes were completed by pupils, Dono Doni
Dono Doni
Dono Doni, also known as Adone Doni or Dono dei Doni, who was born at Assisi, early in the 16th century, is said to have been a disciple of Pietro Perugino. His style retained but little of the Gothic manner of that master, and in his later years he abandoned the style of the school of Raphael, and...
and Cecco di Bernardino of Assisi. The Madonna and Child in Glory with St Sebastian and St Rocco on the far wall of the church of Campello sul Clitunno was completed by one of his pupils from a preparatory drawing by Lo Spagna. The apse of the church of San Giovanni Battista in the small village of Eggi contains a fresco completed by a hand from Lo Spagna’s studio working from a drawing by the artist. For the church of San Martino, Lo Spagna completed the large altar-piece of Coronation of the Virgin, (1522), which today hangs in the Museo Civico of Trevi
Trevi
Trevi is an ancient town and comune in Umbria, Italy, on the lower flank of Monte Serano overlooking the wide plain of the Clitunno river system. It is 10 km SSE of Foligno and 20 km north of Spoleto....
. For the church of Madonna delle Lacrime was Lo Spagna to complete the fresco decorations in the chapel dedicated to St Francis (1518). Around 1520 Lo Spagna decorated the first altar to the right of the church of Sant’Agostino in Visso
Visso
Visso is a comune in the Province of Macerata in the Italian region Marche, located about 80 km southwest of Ancona and about 50 km southwest of Macerata. It houses the seat of the Monti Sibillini National Park.-External links:...
with frescoes, now found in the Collegiata di Santa Maria. Lo Spagna painted a fresco cycle for the parish church of San Michele Arcangelo in Gavelli.
The famous Sposalizio
Marriage of the Virgin (Perugino)
The Marriage of the Virgin is a painting by the Italian Renaissance master Perugino. It is housed in the Musée des Beaux-Arts of Caen, France...
, or Marriage of Joseph and Mary, in the museum at Caen
Caen
Caen is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department and the capital of the Basse-Normandie region. It is located inland from the English Channel....
is now credited to Lo Spagna. The Capitoline Museums
Capitoline Museums
The Capitoline Museums are a group of art and archeological museums in Piazza del Campidoglio, on top of the Capitoline Hill in Rome, Italy. The museums are contained in three palazzi surrounding a central trapezoidal piazza in a plan conceived by Michelangelo Buonarroti in 1536 and executed over...
in Rome now possess a very beautiful series of life-sized fresco figures by him, representing Apollo
Apollo
Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...
and the Nine Muses
Muse
The Muses in Greek mythology, poetry, and literature, are the goddesses who inspire the creation of literature and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge, related orally for centuries in the ancient culture, that was contained in poetic lyrics and myths...
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- Review of exhibition: Giovanni di Pietro, un pittore spagnolo fra Perugino e Raffaello (May 29 – August 1, 2004)http://en.umbriaonline.com/giovanni_di_pietro.phtml.