Giovanni Battista Moroni
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Giovanni Battista Moroni (Born c1520 – February 5, 1578) was an Italian mannerist painter, son of an architect, Andrea Moroni, born in Albino near Bergamo. He is also called Giambattista Moroni.
Moroni was one of the great, albeit shy, portrait painters of the sixteenth century. He trained under Alessandro Bonvicino in Brescia and worked mainly in and around his home town of Albino. He spent two short periods spent in Trento (1548 and 1551), at a time when the Council of Trent was in session. On both occasions Moroni painted a number of works (including the Altarpiece of the Doctors of the Church for the church of Santa Maria Maggiore).
It was during his stay in Trento that he also made contact with Titian and the Madruzzo family. There are claims he was trained by Titian, however, it is improbable he ever ventured to the Venetian's studio for long, if at all. From the 1550s onwards, in fact, Moroni was often commissioned for portraits as a cheaper alternative to the busy Titian. This resulted in abundant patronage for portraits. His output was a series of portraits that, while not quite heroic, are full of dignified humanity and grounded in everyday life.
His output of religious paintings was smaller; for example, he painted an Ultima Cena (Last Supper) for the parish at Romano in Lombardy; Coronation of the Virgin in San Alessandro della Croce, Bergamo; also for the cathedral of Verona, SS Peter and Paul, and in the Brera of Milan, the Assumption of the Virgin. Moroni was engaged upon a Last Judgment in the church of Corlago, when he died. Overall, his style in these paintings shows influences of his master, Lorenzo Lotto, and Girolamo Savoldo. Moroni had no pupils of note; it is said that in following generations, his insightful portraiture influenced Fra' Galgario and Pietro Longhi.
Freedberg notes that while his his religious canvases are "archaic" and show stilted unemotive saints, his portraits are remarkable for their sophisticated psychological insight, dignified air, and exquisite silvery tonality. Why was one category of his work is so limpid, and the other so expressive? One explanation, is that the demands of the subject matter were different. Patrons for religious art were not interested in an individualized, expressive "Madonna"; they desired numinous archtypal saints. On the other hand, patrons were interested in the animated portraiture.
The National Gallery (London) has one of the best collections of his work, including the celebrated portrait known as "Il Sarto" (The Tailor) (a member of the Fenaroli family). Other portraits are found in the Uffizi, (the Nobleman pointing to Flame inscribed "Et quid volo nisi ut ardeat?", Berlin Gallery,the Canon Ludovico de' Terzi and Moroni's own portrait; and in Stafford House, the seated half-figure of the Jesuit Ercole Tasso, currently termed "Titian's Schoolmaster" (no real connection).
[edit] Notes and References
- Note: The 1911 Britannica states his birth date is around 1510, while Freedburg states he was born 1523. Others, state 1520.
- Wittkower, Rudolf (1993). "Art and Architecture Italy, 1600-1750", Pelican History of Art, 1980, Penguin Books Ltd, p591-5.
