150px, Portrait in Vasari's Vite
Giovanni Nanni, also Giovanni de' Ricamatori, better known as Giovanni da Udine (1487–1564), was an Italian painter and architect born in
Udine
Udine ( , ; fur, Udin; la, Utinum) is a city and ''comune'' in north-eastern Italy, in the middle of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic Sea and the Alps (''Alpi Carniche''). Its population was 100,514 in 2012, 176,000 with t ...
. A painter also named ''Giovanni da Udine'' was exiled from his native city in 1472.
Biography
As a student and assistant of
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual ...
, he was responsible for most of the "decorative" (i.e. non-narrative) elements of the major Raphaellesque projects in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus ( legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, and he was a specialist in fresco and stucco grotesque decorations. These included the stucco work in the Loggia di Raffaello (Vatican, 1517–1519) and the heavy fruit-laden wreaths in the ''loggia di psiche'' in the
Villa Farnesina
The Villa Farnesina is a Renaissance suburban villa in the Via della Lungara, in the district of Trastevere in Rome, central Italy.
Description
The villa was built for Agostino Chigi, a rich Sienese banker and the treasurer of Pope Julius II. B ...
. He also assisted in the construction of a few monumental fountains, which are now destroyed. He is also known for his drawings of birds and fruit.
180 px, Decoration for Loggia of Cardinal Bibbiena
left, 170px, Loggia di Psiche frescoes
Stucco discovery
One of his well-known discoveries is the art of Stucco, that Giovanni was the "new-founder" of after antiquity: occasioned by the discovery of the ''
Domus Aurea'', Nero's residence near the Colosseum: in the first year of the 16th century Raphael and his students went down ''"Mons Coelius"'' into tunnels that were formed to explore that area. With candles and torches they explored the caves and looked at the walls onto which were painted little heavy coloured figures that were named ''"grottesche (pl.), grottesca (s.)"'' because in the darkness, these images seemed like paint in ancient caves that in Italian was -and is- said like above. There was a strange "pictorial relief" onto which some of this "grottesche" were realised: it was Roman stucco, an important technique that the ancient Romans utilised to reproduce a marble effect, real marble was already too expensive by that time even for the Imperator (we have to think that there were all a ''"Domus"'' in marble, for a size as like as a range of KM 1.5 - 2 around Colosseum, it was the most famous residence of the Roman Empire).
After the death of Raphael, da Udine continued to work on projects initiated by his master, namely the
Villa Madama
Villa Madama is a Renaissance-style rural palace (villa) located on Via di Villa Madama #250 in Rome, Italy. Located west of the city center and a few miles north of the Vatican, and just south of the Foro Olimpico Stadium. Even though incomplete, ...
in Rome. He continued his work until the
sack of Rome (1527)
The Sack of Rome, then part of the Papal States, followed the capture of the city on 6 May 1527 by the mutinous troops of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor during the War of the League of Cognac. Despite not being ordered to storm the city, wit ...
when he departed to work in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...
, where he worked on the stuccoes in Sagrestia Nuova in
San Lorenzo
San Lorenzo is the Italian and Spanish name for Lawrence of Rome, Saint Lawrence, the 3rd-century Christian martyr, and may refer to:
Places Argentina
* San Lorenzo, Santa Fe
* San Lorenzo Department, Chaco
* Monte San Lorenzo, a mountain on t ...
, and
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
, where he worked on the stucco decoration in the
Palazzo Grimani, around 1540.
In
Udine
Udine ( , ; fur, Udin; la, Utinum) is a city and ''comune'' in north-eastern Italy, in the middle of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic Sea and the Alps (''Alpi Carniche''). Its population was 100,514 in 2012, 176,000 with t ...
, he worked as an architect on the ''Torre dell'Orologio'' (Clock-Tower) and the ''Fontana di Piazza Nuova'' (Piazza Nuova Fountain). In
Cividale
Cividale del Friuli ( fur, Cividât (locally ); german: Östrich; sl, Čedad) is a town and '' comune'' in the Province of Udine, part of the North-Italian Friuli Venezia Giulia ''regione''. The town lies above sea-level in the foothills of the ...
, he helped in the construction of
Santa Maria dei Battuti
Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring children gifts during the late evening and overnigh ...
.
He returned to Rome in 1560 to work on the third floor of the Logge Vaticane, and died in this city in 1564.
Gallery of Bird Drawings
Giovanni da Udine - Études tête d'aigle.jpg, ''Eagle Heads''[Pencil, watercolor and gouache, 19.5 × 22.8 cm. Musée des Beaux-Arts, ]Lille
Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the No ...
, France
Giovanni Da Udine - Study of a Flying Sparrow - WGA09431.jpg, Flying Sparrow
Giovanni Da Udine - Study of a Parrot - WGA09429.jpg, Parrot
Giovanni Da Udine - Study of a Parrot and Other Birds - WGA09430.jpg, Parrot and other Birds
Giovanni Da Udine - Studies of Nuts - WGA09432.jpg, Nuts
References
External links
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 Udine (see index)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Giovanni da Udine
1487 births
1564 deaths
People from Udine
15th-century Italian painters
Italian male painters
16th-century Italian painters
Italian painters of animals
Italian Renaissance painters