Maso da San Friano
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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 active in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
. His real name was Tomaso D'Antonio Manzuoli. He was born in San Friano and died in Florence.
According to Giorgio Vasari
Giorgio Vasari
Giorgio Vasari was an Italian painter, writer, historian, and architect, who is famous today for his biographies of Italian artists, considered the ideological foundation of art-historical writing.-Biography:...
, Maso was a pupil of Pier Francesco Foschi
Pier Francesco Foschi
Pier Francesco Foschi was an Italian painter active in Florence in a Mannerist style. He was pupil of Andrea del Sarto and assisted Pontormo with his frescoes at Careggi in 1536. He completed 3 altarpieces, commissioned in 1540–1545 for the church of Santo Spirito in Florence: an Immaculate...
while others claim it was Carlo Portelli
Carlo Portelli
Carlo Portelli was an Italian painter of the Renaissance period, active mainly in Florence. He is also called Porteolli or Carlo di Galeotto Partelli da Loro...
. He collaborated with an elder Michelangelo
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art...
on some projects.
His altarpiece of the Visitation was painted in 1560 for the church of San Pier Maggiore of Florence - now in Trinity Hall
Trinity Hall, Cambridge
Trinity Hall is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. It is the fifth-oldest college of the university, having been founded in 1350 by William Bateman, Bishop of Norwich.- Foundation :...
Chapel, Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, England. A similar work can be seen in the Prato
Prato
Prato is a city and comune in Tuscany, Italy, the capital of the Province of Prato. The city is situated at the foot of Monte Retaia , the last peak in the Calvana chain. The lowest altitude in the comune is 32 m, near the Cascine di Tavola, and the highest is the peak of Monte Cantagrillo...
cathedral. After 1561, he painted in the church of Ognissanti, Florence and in the church of Santa Felicita. He participated in the decoration of the Studiolo of Francesco I
Studiolo of Francesco I
The Studiolo was a small painting-encrusted barrel-vaulted room in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, commissioned by Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. It was completed for the duke from 1570-1572, by teams of artists under the supervision of Giorgio Vasari and the scholars Giovanni...
with an oval canvas relating the Fall of Icarus story (1572). The canvas has an affected milling in individuals below and an anomalous perspective; both are classic features of mannerist painting. His second contribution Mining of Diamonds. A portrait of Ferdinando I de' Medici (1570) by Maso can be found in the Town Council Hall of Prato.
He is thought to be one of part of the Contra-Maniera or Counter-Mannerism
Counter-Mannerism
Counter-Mannerism is a general art historical term for a trend in painting, printmaking and interior decoration that originated as a sub-category of Mannerism. Contra-Maniera followed the general worldliness of the second generation of Mannerist painters...
movement in Florence. His most important pupils were Jacopo da Empoli
Jacopo da Empoli
thumb|250px|Martyrdom of St. Sebastian, [[San Lorenzo di Firenze|San Lorenzo]], [[Florence]].Jacopo da Empoli was an Italian late-mannerist painter....
and Alessandro Fei.
One of his paintings, thought to be of Cosimo I de Medici in 1560, is believed to be the oldest to show a watch.