Giovanni Battista Moroni, also known as Giambattista Moroni ( – 5 February 1578) was an

Italian painter Following is a list of Italian painters (in alphabetical order) who are notable for their art. A *Niccolò dell'Abbate (1509/1512–1571) *Giuseppe Abbati (1836–1868) * Angiolo Achini (1850–1930) * Pietro Adami (fl. c. 1730) *Eugenio Agn ...

of the

Mannerist Mannerism is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, when the Baroque style largely replaced it ...

school. Best known for his elegantly realistic portraits of the local nobility and clergy, he is considered one of the great portrait painters of the

Cinquecento The cultural and artistic events of Italy during the period 1500 to 1599 are collectively referred to as the Cinquecento (, ), from the Italian for the number 500, in turn from , which is Italian for the year 1500. Cinquecento encompasses the st ...

Biography

Moroni was the son of architect Andrea Moroni. He trained under

Alessandro Bonvicino Alessandro Bonvicino (also Buonvicino) (possibly 22 December 1554), more commonly known as Moretto, or in Italian Il Moretto da Brescia (the Moor of Brescia), was an Italian Renaissance painter from Brescia, where he also mostly worked. His da ...

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

, where he was the main studio assistant during the 1540s, and worked in

Trento Trento ( or ; Ladin language, Ladin and ; ; ; ; ; ), also known in English as Trent, is a city on the Adige, Adige River in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol in Italy. It is the capital of the Trentino, autonomous province of Trento. In the 16th ...

Bergamo Bergamo ( , ; ) is a city in the Alps, alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from the alpine lakes Lake Como, Como and Lake Iseo, Iseo and 70 km (43 mi) from Lake Garda, Garda and Lake ...

and his home town of

Albino Albinism is the congenital absence of melanin in an animal or plant resulting in white hair, feathers, scales and skin and reddish pink or blue eyes. Individuals with the condition are referred to as albinos. Varied use and interpretation of ...

, near Bergamo, where he was born and died. His two short periods in Trento coincided with the first two sessions of the

Council of Trent The Council of Trent (), held between 1545 and 1563 in Trent (or Trento), now in northern Italy, was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation at the time, it has been described as the "most ...

, 1546–48 and 1551–53. On both occasions Moroni painted a number of religious works (including the altarpiece of the ''Doctors of the Church'' for the church of

Santa Maria Maggiore, Bergamo The Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore is a major church in the upper town of Bergamo, Northern Italy. History According to the popular tradition, partially supported by documents, the church was built to comply with a vow made to the Virgin Mary ...

) as well as the series of portraits for which he is remembered. During his stay in Trento he also made contact with

Titian Tiziano Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian Renaissance painter, the most important artist of Renaissance Venetian painting. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno. Ti ...

and the Count-Bishop,

Cristoforo Madruzzo 200px, ''Portrait of Cardinal Cristoforo Madruzzo, Portrait of Cristoforo Madruzzo'' by Titian (1552). Museu de Arte de São Paulo, São Paulo. Cristoforo Madruzzo () (5 July 1512 – 5 July 1578) was an Italian Roman Catholic cardinal and state ...

, whose own portrait is by Titian, but for whom Moroni painted portraits of Madruzzo's sons. There were nineteenth-century claims that he was trained by Titian at Trento, however, it is improbable that he ever ventured to the Venetian's studio for long, if at all. Moroni's period as the fashionable portraitist of Bergamo, nowhere documented but in the inscribed dates of his portraits, is unexpectedly condensed, spanning only the years ca. 1557–62, after which Bergamo was convulsed in internecine strife and Moroni retired permanently to Albino, (Rossi, Gregori et al.) where, in his provincial isolation, he was entirely overlooked by

Giorgio Vasari Giorgio Vasari (30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance painter, architect, art historian, and biographer who is best known for his work ''Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'', considered the ideol ...

. His output at Bergamo, influenced in part by study of the realism of

Savoldo Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo, also called Girolamo da Brescia (c. 1480–1485 – after 1548), was an Italian High Renaissance painter active mostly in Venice, although he also worked in other cities in northern Italy. He is noted for his subtle use ...

, produced in the few years a long series of portraits that, while not quite heroic, are full of dignified humanity and grounded in everyday life. The subjects are not drawn exclusively from the Bergamasque aristocracy, but from the newly self-aware class of scholars, professionals, and exemplary government bureaucrats, with a few soldiers, presented in detached and wary attitudes with Moroni's meticulous passages of still life and closer attention to textiles and clothing than to psychological penetration. His output of religious paintings, destined for a less sophisticated audience in the local sub-Alpine valleys, was smaller and less successful than his portraits: "the exact truth of parts nowhere added up, in his altar pictures, even to the semblance of credibility", S. J. Freedberg has observed of their diagrammatic schemes borrowed from Moretto, Savoldo, and others. for example, he painted a ''Last Supper'' for the parish at Romano in

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

; ''Coronation of the Virgin'' in

Sant'Alessandro della Croce, Bergamo Sant'Alessandro della Croce is a Baroque style, Roman Catholic church located on Via Pignolo in Bergamo, region of Lombardy, Italy. History After Arnulf of Carinthia's siege of Bergamo in 894, the Bishop of the city, Adalberto (alternately spelle ...

; also for the cathedral of

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

, ''SS Peter and Paul'', and in the Brera of

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, the ''Assumption of the Virgin''. Moroni was engaged upon a ''Last Judgment'' in the church of

Gorlago Gorlago (Bergamasque: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Bergamo in the Italian region of Lombardy, located about northeast of Milan and about southeast of Bergamo Bergamo ( , ; ) is a city in the Alps, alpine Lombardy regi ...

, when he died. Overall, his style in these paintings shows influences of his master,

Lorenzo Lotto Lorenzo Lotto (c. 1480 – 1556/57) was an Italian Renaissance painter, draughtsman, and illustrator, traditionally placed in the Venetian school, though much of his career was spent in other north Italian cities. He painted mainly altarpie ...

, and

Girolamo Savoldo Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo, also called Girolamo da Brescia (c. 1480–1485 – after 1548), was an Italian High Renaissance painter active mostly in Venice, although he also worked in other cities in northern Italy. He is noted for his subtle use ...

Giovanni Paolo Cavagna Giovanni Paolo Cavagna (c. 1550 – May 20, 1627) was an Italian painter of the late-Renaissance period, active mainly in Bergamo and Brescia. Biography He was born in Borgo di San Leonardo in Bergamo. He is said to have trained in Venice with ...

was an undistinguished pupil of Moroni, however, it is said that in following generations, his insightful portraiture influenced Fra' Galgario and

Pietro Longhi Pietro Longhi (5 November 1701 – 8 May 1785) was a Venice, Venetian Painting, painter of contemporary genre painting, genre scenes of life. Biography Pietro Longhi was born in Venice in the parish of Saint Maria, first child of the silversmit ...

. Freedberg notes that while his religious canvases are "archaic", recalling the additive compositions of the late Quattrocento and show stilted unemotive saints, his portraits are remarkable for their sophisticated psychological insight, dignified air, fluent control, and exquisite silvery tonality. Patrons for religious art were not interested in an individualized, expressive "Madonna", they desired numinous archetypal saints. On the other hand, patrons were interested in the animated portraiture.

Public collections with works by Moroni

The

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...

(London) has one of the best collections of his work, including the celebrated portrait known as '' Il sarto'' (''The Tailor''). Other portraits are found in the

Uffizi The Uffizi Gallery ( ; , ) is a prominent art museum adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums and the most visited, it is also one of th ...

(the ''Nobleman Pointing to Flame'' inscribed, "Et quid volo nisi ut ardeat?"), Berlin Gallery, the Canon Ludovico de' Terzi and Moroni's self-portrait; and in the National Gallery, Washington, D.C., ''A Gentleman in Adoration Before the Madonna'', the full-length portrait of Gian Federico Madruzzo, and the seated half-figure of the Jesuit Ercole Tasso, traditionally called, "Titian's Schoolmaster", although there is no real connection with Titian. Among the public collections holding works by Giovanni Battista Moroni are, the

Accademia Carrara The Accademia Carrara, (), officially Accademia Carrara di Belle Arti di Bergamo, is an art gallery and an academy of fine arts in Bergamo, in Lombardy in northern Italy. The art gallery was established in about 1780 by , a Bergamasco collecto ...

(Bergamo) (''Portrait of an old man''),

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street in Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University ...

(University of Oxford), Brooks Museum of Art (Memphis, Tennessee),

Detroit Institute of Arts The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) is a museum institution located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan. It has list of largest art museums, one of the largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With over 100 galleries, it cove ...

, the

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), comprising the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco. FAMSF's combined attendance was 1,1 ...

, the

Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and holds the large ...

, the

Honolulu Museum of Art The Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly the Honolulu Academy of Arts) is an art museum in Honolulu, Hawaii, Hawaii. The museum is the largest of its kind in the state, and was founded in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke. It has one of the largest single co ...

Kunsthistorisches Museum The Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien ( "Vienna Museum of art history, Art History", often referred to as the "Museum of Fine Arts, Vienna") is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on the Vienna Ring Road, i ...

(Vienna), the

Liechtenstein Museum The Gartenpalais Liechtenstein (eng.: Liechtenstein Garden Palace) is a baroque palace on Fürstengasse in Vienna's 9th district, Alsergrund. The palace is owned by the Princely Family of Liechtenstein, rulers of Liechtenstein. It sits on the sou ...

(Vienna), the

Musée du Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

, Musée Condé Chantilly (Chantilly, France),

Museo Poldi Pezzoli The Museo Poldi Pezzoli is an art museum in Milan, Italy. It is located near the Teatro alla Scala, on Via Manzoni 12. The museum was originated in the 19th century as a private collection of Gian Giacomo Poldi Pezzoli (1822–1879) and his m ...

(Milan), the

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the list of largest art museums, 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 painting ...

National Galleries of Scotland The National Galleries of Scotland (, sometimes also known as National Galleries Scotland) is the executive non-departmental public body that controls the three national galleries of Scotland and two partner galleries, forming one of the Nation ...

, the National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.), The

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

(New York), the

Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most import ...

, the

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's National museums of Canada, national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the List of large ...

(''Portrait of a Man''), the

National Gallery, London The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current dire ...

, the

Norton Simon Museum The Norton Simon Museum is an art museum located in Pasadena, California. It was previously known as the Pasadena Art Institute and the Pasadena Art Museum and displays numerous sculptures on its grounds. Overview The Norton Simon collections ...

(Pasadena, California), Pinacoteca Ambrosiana (Milan),

Pinacoteca di Brera The Pinacoteca di Brera ("Brera Art Gallery") is the main public gallery for paintings in Milan, Italy. It contains one of the foremost collections of Italian paintings from the 13th to the 20th century, an outgrowth of the cultural program of ...

(Milan),

Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the S ...

, the

John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art is the official state art museum of Florida, located in Sarasota, Florida. It was established in 1927 as the legacy of Mable Burton Ringling and John Ringling for the people of Florida. Florida State Uni ...

(Sarasota, Florida), Studio Esseci (Padua, Italy), University of Arizona Museum of Art,

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) is an art museum in Richmond, Virginia, United States, which opened in 1936. The museum is owned and operated by the Commonwealth of Virginia. Private donations, endowments, and funds are used for the supp ...

National Gallery of Ireland The National Gallery of Ireland () houses the national collection of Irish and European art. It is located in the centre of Dublin with one entrance on Merrion Square, beside Leinster House, and another on Clare Street, Dublin, Clare Street. It ...

(''Portrait of a Gentleman and his two Children''), the

(''Portrait of Giovanni Antonio Pantera''), the Prado (''A Soldier''), and the

Worcester Art Museum The Worcester Art Museum houses over 38,000 works of art dating from antiquity to the present day and representing cultures from all over the world. The museum opened in 1898 in Worcester, Massachusetts. Its holdings include Roman mosaics, Europe ...

(''Portrait of a Man''). In 2016, "Portrait of a Man", attributed to the workshop of Giovanni Battista Moroni, was restituted to the heirs of Dr. August Liebmann Mayer. The painting had been looted by the Nazis, returned to France and in storage at the

Louvre Museum The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

in Paris since 1951.

Gallery

File:'Portrait of a Man', oil on canvas painting by Giovanni Battista Moroni, 1553, Honolulu Academy of Arts.jpg, ''Portrait of a Man'', oil on canvas, 1553,

File:Bartolommeo Bonghi (died 1584) MET DT382.jpg, '' Portrait of Bartolomeo Bonghi'', oil on canvas, 1553,

File:Giovanni Battista Moroni - Gian Lodovico Madruzzo - WGA16251.jpg, ''Gian Lodovico Madruzzo'' - Art Institute of Chicago File:Moroni Nicoloinis.jpg, ''Portrait of Angelica Agliardi de Nicolini'', circa 1560,

Chantilly Chantilly may refer to: Places France *Chantilly, Oise, a city ** US Chantilly, a football club *Château de Chantilly United States * Chantilly, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Chantilly (Charlotte neighborhood), North Carolina ...

Musée Condé The – in English, the Condé Museum – is a French museum located inside the Château de Chantilly in Chantilly, Oise, 40 km north of Paris. In 1897, Henri d'Orléans, Duke of Aumale, son of Louis Philippe I, bequeathed the château and ...

File:Moroni Prospero Alessandri 1560.jpg, Portrait by Moroni, 1560, the background is very typical File:Giovanni Battista Moroni - Portrait of a Man holding a Letter ('L'Avvocato') - Google Art Project.jpg, ''

Portrait of a Man Holding a Letter The ''Portrait of a Man Holding a Letter'', also known as ''The Lawyer'', is an oil on canvas painting by Italian painter Giovanni Battista Moroni, from 1570-1572. It is held at the National Gallery, in London. It is considered one of the most re ...

'' (''L'Avvocato'') File:Giovanni Battista Moroni - The Baptism of Christ with a Donor - WGA16246.jpg, ''The Baptism of Christ with a Donor'' File:Giovanni Battista Moroni - Portrait of Don Gabriel de la Cueva, later Duke of Alburquerque - WGA16256.jpg, ''Portrait of Don Gabriel de la Cueva'', 1560, Gemäldegalerie,

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

File:Giovanni Battista Moroni - The Knight in Black - Google Art Project.jpg, '' The Knight in Black'', ,

, Milan File:Giovanni Battista Moroni, "Titian's Schoolmaster", c. 1575, NGA 1184.jpg, ''Titian's Schoolmaster'', , National Gallery of Art File:Giovanni Battista Moroni 021.jpg, ''Portrait of a Soldier'', ,

Prado Museum The Museo del Prado ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It houses collections of European art, dating from the 12th century to the early 20th century, based on ...

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

References and sources

References

Sources

* *Gregori, Mina. ''Giovan Battista Moroni—tutte le opere''. Bergamo: Poligrafiche Bolis, 1979. *Ng, Aimee, Simone Facchinetti and Arturo Galansino. ''Moroni: The Riches of Renaissance Portraiture''. Exh. cat. Feb. 29–June 2, 2019. New York: The Frick Collection, 2019.
review with excerpts and images
Delancy Place, July 12, 2019) * *Tiraboschi, Giampiero. Giovan Battista Moroni: l'uomo e l'artista. Bergamo: Tera mata, 2016. *

External links

''Guardian'' article on MoroniPaintings by Moroni
*
Painters of reality: the legacy of Leonardo and Caravaggio in Lombardy
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Moroni (see index)
Exhibition
at the Frick Collection, New York, in 2019. {{DEFAULTSORT:Moroni, Giovanni Battista 1520s births 1578 deaths People from Albino, Lombardy 16th-century Italian painters Italian male painters Painters from Bergamo Italian Renaissance painters Italian Mannerist painters Italian portrait painters