Amico Aspertini, also called Amerigo Aspertini, was an Italian

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

painter and sculptor whose complex, eccentric, and eclectic style anticipates Mannerism. He is considered one of the leading exponents of the Bolognese School of painting.

Biography

He was born in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

to a family of painters (including Giovanni Antonio Aspertini, his father, and Guido Aspertini, his brother), and studied under masters such as

Lorenzo Costa Lorenzo Costa (1460 – 5 March 1535) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance. Biography He was born at Ferrara, but moved to Bologna by his early twenties, and was probably influenced by the Bolognese School. However, many artists worked in ...

and

Francesco Francia __NOTOC__ Francesco Francia, whose real name was Francesco Raibolini (1447 – 5 January 1517) was an Italian painter, goldsmith, and medallist from Bologna, who was also director of the city mint.Levinson:492 He may have trained with Marco Zop ...

. He traveled to Rome with his father in 1496, and is briefly documented there again between 1500–1503, returning to Bologna thereafter and painting in a style influenced by

Pinturicchio Pinturicchio, or Pintoricchio (, ; born Bernardino di Betto; 1454–1513), also known as Benetto di Biagio or Sordicchio, was an Italian painter during the Renaissance. He acquired his nickname (meaning "little painter") because of his sma ...

and

Filippino Lippi Filippino Lippi (April 1457 – 18 April 1504) was an Italian painter working in Florence, Italy during the later years of the Early Renaissance and first few years of the High Renaissance. Biography Filippino Lippi was born in Prato, Tusc ...

(whose work the critic

Roberto Longhi Roberto Longhi (28 December 1890 – 3 June 1970) was an Italian academic, art historian, and curator. The main subjects of his studies were the painters Caravaggio and Piero della Francesca. Early life and career Longhi was born in December 18 ...

suggested n ''Officina ferrarese'', 1934he may have seen in Florence before 1500). To his Roman years belong at least two collections of drawings, the "Parma Notebook" (''Taccuino di Parma'') and the Wolfegg Codex. In Bologna in 1504, he joined Francia and Costa in painting frescoes for the Oratory of Santa Cecilia next to San Giacomo Maggiore, a work commissioned by

Giovanni II Bentivoglio Giovanni II Bentivoglio (12 February 144315 February 1508) was an Italian nobleman who ruled as tyrant of Bologna from 1463 until 1506. He had no formal position, but held power as the city's "first citizen." The Bentivoglio family ruled over Bo ...

. In 1508-1509, while in exile from Bologna following the fall of the Bentivoglio family, Aspertini painted the splendid frescoes in the Chapel of the Cross in the

Basilica di San Frediano The Basilica of San Frediano is a Romanesque church in Lucca, Italy, situated on the ''Piazza San Frediano''. History Fridianus (Frediano) was an Irish bishop of Lucca in the first half of the 6th century. He had a church built on this spo ...

Lucca Lucca ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its province has a population of 383,957. Lucca is known as one ...

(a church, like the Oratory of Santa Cecilia, maintained by Augustinian friars). Aspertini was also one of two artists chosen to decorate a triumphal arch for the entry into Bologna of Pope

Clement VII Pope Clement VII ( la, Clemens VII; it, Clemente VII; born Giulio de' Medici; 26 May 1478 – 25 September 1534) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 November 1523 to his death on 25 September 1534. Deemed "the ...

and Emperor

Charles V Charles V may refer to: * Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) * Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain * Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise * Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690) * Infa ...

in 1529. He produced sculptures for doors in San Petronio Basilica in Bologna. Aspertini also painted façade decorations (all now lost), and altarpieces. Many of his works are often eccentric and charged in expression. For example, the ''Pietà'' he painted inside San Petronio appears to occur in an other-worldly electric sky. His Tuscan near-contemporary

Giorgio Vasari Giorgio Vasari (, also , ; 30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance Master, who worked as a painter, architect, engineer, writer, and historian, who is best known for his work '' The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculp ...

described Aspertini (in '' The Lives'') as having an eccentric, half-insane personality. According to Vasari, he was ambidextrous and worked so rapidly with both hands that he was able to divide

chiaroscuro Chiaroscuro ( , ; ), in art, is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to achi ...

between them, painting ''chiaro'' with one hand and ''scuro'' with the other. Vasari also quotes Aspertini as complaining that all his Bolognese colleagues were copying

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 a ...

. He died in Bologna.

Anthology of works

*''Adoration of the Shepherds'' - Staatliche Museen, Berlin *''Adoration of the Shepherds'' (1515) - Uffizi, Florence *

Domus Aurea The Domus Aurea (Latin, "Golden House") was a vast landscaped complex built by the Emperor Nero largely on the Oppian Hill in the heart of ancient Rome after the great fire in 64 AD had destroyed a large part of the city.Roth (1993) It replac ...

, Rome *''A Baptismal Ceremony'' - Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery, Nashville, Tennessee *Frescoes, Oratorio di Santa Cecilia, Bologna * San Frediano, Lucca * San Michele in Bosco, Bologna *''Pietà with Saint Mark, Ambrose, John the Evangelist, and Anthony Abbot'' (1519) - San Petronio, Bologna) *''Saint Sebastian'', National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC *''Battle of the Amazons'' (Italy) *''Madonna and Child with Saints George, Joseph, John the Evangelist and Sebastian'', Museo Nazionale di Villa Guinigi, Lucca * San Giacomo Maggiore, Bologna *''Profile of a Hero'' (1496) - Christian Museum,

Esztergom Esztergom ( ; german: Gran; la, Solva or ; sk, Ostrihom, known by alternative names) is a city with county rights in northern Hungary, northwest of the capital Budapest. It lies in Komárom-Esztergom County, on the right bank of the river Dan ...

*''Madonna Enthroned with Saints'', (c. 1515) - San Martino, Bologna *''Holy Family with Saints'' (after 1530) - Saint Nicolas des Champs, Paris

References

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External links

Web Gallery

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aspertini, Amico 15th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 16th-century Italian painters 16th-century Italian sculptors Painters from Bologna Renaissance painters Fresco painters