Vivarini
Encyclopedia
Vivarini is the surname of a family of painters from Murano
(Venice
), who produced a great quantity of work in Venice and its neighborhood in the 15th century, leading on to that phase of the school which is represented by Carpaccio
and the Bellini
s.
Murano
Murano is a series of islands linked by bridges in the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy. It lies about 1.5 km north of Venice and measures about across with a population of just over 5,000 . It is famous for its glass making, particularly lampworking...
(Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
), who produced a great quantity of work in Venice and its neighborhood in the 15th century, leading on to that phase of the school which is represented by Carpaccio
Vittore Carpaccio
Vittore Carpaccio was an Italian painter of the Venetian school, who studied under Gentile Bellini. He is best known for a cycle of nine paintings, The Legend of Saint Ursula. His style was somewhat conservative, showing little influence from the Humanist trends that transformed Italian...
and the Bellini
Bellini
-People:*Vincenzo Bellini , opera composer*a family of Italian painters:**Jacopo Bellini , father of Gentile and Giovanni**Gentile Bellini **Giovanni Bellini , the most famous of the three...
s.
- Antonio VivariniAntonio VivariniAntonio Vivarini was an Italian painter of the early Renaissance-late Gothic period, who worked mostly in the Republic of Venice...
(Antonio of Murano) was probably the earliest of this family. He came from the school of Andrea da Murano, and his works show the influence of Gentile da FabrianoGentile da FabrianoGentile da Fabriano was an Italian painter known for his participation in the International Gothic style. He worked in various places in central Italy, mostly in Tuscany. His best known works are his Adoration of the Magi and the Flight into Egypt.-Biography:Gentile was born in or near Fabriano,...
. The earliest known date of a picture of his, an altarpieceAltarpieceAn altarpiece is a picture or relief representing a religious subject and suspended in a frame behind the altar of a church. The altarpiece is often made up of two or more separate panels created using a technique known as panel painting. It is then called a diptych, triptych or polyptych for two,...
in the Venetian academy, is 1440; the latest, in the LateranLateranLateran and Laterano are the shared names of several architectural projects throughout Rome. The properties were once owned by the Lateranus family of the former Roman Empire...
museum, 1464, but he appears to have been alive in 1470. He worked in company with a certain "Joannes de Alemania", who has been (with considerable doubt) regarded as a brother (Giovanni of Murano), but no trace of this painter exists of a date later than 1447. After 1447 Antonio painted either alone or in combination with his younger brother Bartolomeo. The works of Antonio are well drawn for their epoch, with a certain noticeable degree of softness, and with good flesh and other tints. Three of his principal paintings are the Virgin Enthroned with the Four Doctors of the Church, the Coronation of the Virgin and Sts Peter and Jerome. The first two (in which Giovanni cooperated) are in the Venetian academy, the third in the National Gallery, LondonNational Gallery, LondonThe National Gallery is an art museum on Trafalgar Square, London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The gallery is an exempt charity, and a non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media...
. This gallery contains also specimens of the two under-named painters.
- Bartolomeo Vivarini is known to have worked from 1450 to 1499. He learned oil-painting from Antonello da MessinaAntonello da MessinaAntonello da Messina, properly Antonello di Giovanni di Antonio was an Italian painter from Messina, Sicily, active during the Italian Renaissance...
, and is said to have produced, in 1473, the first oil picture done in Venice. This is in the church of San Giovanni e Paolo, a large altarpiece in nine divisions, representing AugustineAugustine of HippoAugustine of Hippo , also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin, St. Augoustinos, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed, was Bishop of Hippo Regius . He was a Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province...
and other saints. Most of his works, however, including one in the National Gallery, are in temperaTemperaTempera, also known as egg tempera, is a permanent fast-drying painting medium consisting of colored pigment mixed with a water-soluble binder medium . Tempera also refers to the paintings done in this medium. Tempera paintings are very long lasting, and examples from the 1st centuries AD still exist...
. His outline is always hard, and his color good; the figures have much dignified and devout expression. As vivarino means in ItalianItalian languageItalian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
a goldfinchGoldfinchGoldfinch may refer to any of the following species of bird from the genus Carduelis:* American Goldfinch, Carduelis tristis* European Goldfinch, Carduelis carduelis* Lawrence's Goldfinch, Carduelis lawrencei...
, he sometimes drew a goldfinch as the signature of his pictures.
- Luigi or Alvise VivariniAlvise VivariniAlvise or Luigi Vivarini, , was an Italian painter, the leading Venetian artist before Giovanni Bellini. Like Bellini, he was part of a dynasty of painters. His father was Antonio Vivarini and his uncle, with whom he may have trained, was Bartolomeo Vivarini...
, born c. 1446, painted from 1475 until his death in 1502. It has sometimes been supposed that, besides the Luigi who was the latest of this pictorial family, there had also been another Luigi who was the earliest, this supposition being founded on the fact that one picture is signed with the name, with the date 1414. There is good ground, however, for considering this date to be a forgery of a later time. The works of Luigi show an advance on those of his predecessors, and some of them are productions of high attainment; one of the best was executed for the Scuola di San Girolamo in Venice, representing the saint caressing his lion, and some monks decamping in terror. Other works by him are in TrevisoTrevisoTreviso is a city and comune in Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 82,854 inhabitants : some 3,000 live within the Venetian walls or in the historical and monumental center, some 80,000 live in the urban center proper, while the city...
and in MilanMilanMilan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
. He painted some remarkable portraits. One of his pupils is Marco BasaitiMarco BasaitiMarco Basaiti was a Venetian Greek painter and a rival of Giovanni Bellini. His best known works are Christ Praying in the Garden and the Calling of St. Peter and St. Andrew.- Biography :...
.