Marco Palmezzano (1460–1539) was an Italian

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

and

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, belonging to the Forlì painting school, who painted in a style recalling earlier Northern

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

models. He was mostly active near Forlì.

Biography

Palmezzano was born and died in Forlì,

Romagna Romagna () is an Italian historical region that approximately corresponds to the south-eastern portion of present-day Emilia-Romagna, in northern Italy. Etymology The name ''Romagna'' originates from the Latin name ''Romania'', which originally ...

. After his initial training with the painter Melozzo da Forlì — who had collaborated with Piero della Francesca and was widely esteemed as a master of perspective and foreshortening techniques— Palmezzano went to

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

in the early 1490s. It is rumored that Palmezzano may have then traveled to

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

to join the team painting frescoes at the Holy Cross church there, but no documentary evidence exists. He is, however, noted in property records as residing in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

in 1495. Shortly thereafter, Palmezzano returned to Forlì, where he spent the rest of his long life—apparently with only brief excursions connected with commissions in other places in the region—until his death in 1539. Among his pupils in Forlì, are listed Baldassarre Carrari il Giovane.Pittura miscellanea
article ''Marco Palmezzano e le sue Opere'' by Egidio Calzini, (1894) page 86-90.

Work

Palmezzano's studio was prolific in producing altarpieces, most commonly featuring the iconic arrangement of an enthroned Virgin with child on her lap, while below, symmetrically sited in the foreground are flanking saints. Venetian painting, in general, and the work of

Giovanni Bellini Giovanni Bellini (; c. 1430 – 29 November 1516) was an Italian Renaissance painter, probably the best known of the Bellini family of Venetian painters. He was raised in the household of Jacopo Bellini, formerly thought to have been his father, ...

and

Cima da Conegliano Giovanni Battista Cima, also called Cima da Conegliano (), was an Italian Renaissance painter, who mostly worked in Venice. He can be considered part of the Venetian school (art), Venetian school, though he was also influenced by Antonello da ...

, in particular, were to remain the most powerful influences on Palmezzano's output. Moreover, he remained faithful to the Venetian style of the later 15th and early 16th century.

Mannerism 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 ...

entirely passed him by, and he seemed immune to subsequent developments in Venetian painting. One of the most attractive facets of Palmezzano's oeuvre are the distinctive and suggestive landscapes that form the backdrops of many of his

altarpiece An altarpiece is a painting or sculpture, including relief, of religious subject matter made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting or sculpture, ...

s. These are a blend of the ideal and lyrical, and of the observed reality of the Apennine foothills and mountains to the south of Forli for which Palmezzano clearly had a real affection. These landscapes are also employed to subtle and imaginative effect to convey the symbolic religious messages of the works.

Chronology of work

*''

Crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the condemned is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross, beam or stake and left to hang until eventual death. It was used as a punishment by the Achaemenid Empire, Persians, Ancient Carthag ...

'' (early period) in the Pinacoteca Civica of Forlì. *''Virgin with Child between Saint John the Baptist and Saint Margaret'' (1492) *Decorations in the Chapel Feo in Church of San Biagio at Forlì, destroyed in bombing during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

(1493-34) *''

Annunciation The Annunciation (; ; also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord; ) is, according to the Gospel of Luke, the announcement made by the archangel Gabriel to Ma ...

'' altarpiece for Forlì's

Carmelite The Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (; abbreviated OCarm), known as the Carmelites or sometimes by synecdoche known simply as Carmel, is a mendicant order in the Catholic Church for both men and women. Histo ...

church (1495-57) *''Virgin and Child with Saints Giacomo and Michele'' (1490s) *''Madonna and Child with Saints'' (1493)

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 ...

*''Virgin and Child with Saints John the Baptist and Filippo Bennizi'' - Gallery of Antique Art of Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Cesena *''Virgin and Child with Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Catherine of Alexandria'', created in

Matelica Matelica is a (municipality) of the Province of Macerata in the Italian region of Marche. Located about southwest of Ancona and west of Macerata, it extends over an area of . Geography Matelica lies in an ample valley where the Braccano ...

(1501) *''Crucifixion between Gualberto and Mary Magdalene'' *''Holy Communion of Apostles'' (1506) - Oil on wood, Pinacoteca Civica, Forlì *''The Dead Christ in the Tomb with the Virgin Mary and Saints'' (1506) - Oil on wood, National Gallery, London *''Virgin and Child Enthroned between Saints John the Baptist and Jerome'' (1510) - Oil on wood panel, Vatican Picture Gallery *'' Dead Christ with Two Angels'' (1510) - Tempera on panel, 81 x 79 cm,

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 ...

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*''Holy Family with Saint Elizabeth and the Infant Saint John'' (1515) - Oil on wood panel, Vatican Picture Gallery *Hospital ''Beaten for Forlì'' (1517) *''The Baptism of Christ'' (1535) - Oil on panel, 90 x 70 cm, Pinacoteca Civica, Forlì *''The Baptism of Christ'' (c. 1535) - Oil on wood panel, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne *''Virgin and Child Surrounded by Saints'' (1537) - Oil on wood panel, Vatican Picture Gallery *''Christ Bearing the Cross'' - Oil on wood panel, Vatican Picture Gallery *''Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist'' - Oil on panel, 65 x 52 cm, Private collection *''The Annunciation with City by the Sea'' - Oil on wood panel, Vatican Picture Gallery *''Saint Jerome and Saint Francis in the Desert'', Loyola University Art Museum, Chicago

Sources

*Francis Russell, ''Marco Palmezzano: Forlì'', in ''The Burlington magazine'', 148.2006, 1237, p. 294-295.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palmezzano, Marco 1460s births 1539 deaths Artists from Forlì 15th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 16th-century Italian painters Italian Renaissance painters