Giovanni Battista Moroni ( – 5 February 1579) was an

Italian painter Following is a list of Italian painters (in alphabetical order) who are notable for their art. A *Niccolò dell'Abbate (1509/12–1571) * Giuseppe Abbati (1836–1868) *Angiolo Achini (1850–1930) *Pietro Adami (c. 1730) *Livio Agresti (1508 ...

of the

Late Renaissance Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, 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 ...

period. He also is called Giambattista Moroni. Best known for his elegantly realistic portraits of the local nobility and clergy, he is considered one of the great portrait painters of sixteenth century Italy.

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 ...

"Il Moretto" in

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and '' comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo ...

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

Trento Trento ( or ; Ladin and lmo, Trent; german: Trient ; cim, Tria; , ), also anglicized as Trent, is a city on the Adige River in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol in Italy. It is the capital of the autonomous province of Trento. In the 16th centu ...

Bergamo Bergamo (; lmo, Bèrghem ; from the proto- Germanic elements *''berg +*heim'', the "mountain home") is a city in the alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from Switzerland, the alpine lakes Com ...

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 pink or blue eyes. Individuals with the condition are referred to as albino. Varied use and interpretation of the term ...

, 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 ( la, Concilium Tridentinum), 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, it has been described a ...

, 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 Mar ...

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

Titian Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italians, Italian (Republic of Venice, Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school (art), ...

and the Count-Bishop,

Cristoforo Madruzzo 200px, '' Portrait of Cristoforo Madruzzo'' by Titian (1552). Museu de Arte de São Paulo, São Paulo">Museu_de_Arte_de_São_Paulo.html" ;"title="Titian (1552). Museu de Arte de São Paulo">Titian (1552). Museu de Arte de São Paulo, São Paulo. ...

, 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 (, 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 ...

. 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 (man), (woman) lmo, lumbard, links=no (man), (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , ...

; ''Coronation of the Virgin'' in Sant'Alessandro della Croce, Bergamo; also for the cathedral of

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

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

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

, 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. Gorlago borders the following municipalities: Bolgare, Ca ...

, 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 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 altarpieces, religiou ...

, 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 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 (1702 or November 5, 1701 – May 8, 1785) was a Venetian painter of contemporary genre scenes of life. Biography Pietro Longhi was born in Venice in the parish of Saint Maria, first child of the silversmith Alessandro Falca and ...

. 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 over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...

(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 (; it, Galleria degli Uffizi, italic=no, ) is a prominent art museum located 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 ...

(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 collec ...

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

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, 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 o ...

(University of Oxford),

Brooks Museum of Art Memphis Brooks Museum of Art is an art museum in Memphis, Tennessee. The Brooks Museum, which was founded in 1916, is the oldest and largest art museum in the state of Tennessee. The museum is a privately funded nonprofit institution located in O ...

(Memphis, Tennessee),

Detroit Institute of Arts The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, has one of the largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With over 100 galleries, it covers with a major renovation and expansion project comple ...

, 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. The permanent collection of the ...

, 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. It is the larges ...

, the

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

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

(Vienna), the

Liechtenstein Museum The Liechtenstein Museum is a private art museum in Vienna, Austria. It contains much of the art collection of its owners, the Princely Family of Liechtenstein, rulers of the principality of Liechtenstein. It includes important European works of ...

(Vienna), the

Musée du Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

, Musée Condé Chantilly (Chantilly, France), Museo Poldi Pezzoli (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 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

National Galleries of Scotland National Galleries of Scotland ( gd, Gailearaidhean Nàiseanta na h-Alba) is the executive non-departmental public body that controls the three national galleries of Scotland and two partner galleries, forming one of the National Collections ...

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

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

(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 (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the ...

(''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 over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director of ...

, the

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

(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 ...

, the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art (Sarasota, Florida), Studio Esseci (Padua, Italy), University of Arizona Museum of Art,

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, or 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 ...

National Gallery of Ireland The National Gallery of Ireland ( ga, Gailearaí Náisiúnta na hÉireann) 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 ...

(''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, also known by its acronym WAM, houses over 38,000 works of art dating from antiquity to the present day and representing cultures from all over the world. WAM opened in 1898 in Worcester, Massachusetts, and ranks among t ...

(''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 the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

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,

Musée Condé The Musée Condé – 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 ...

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'' (''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 and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

File:Giovanni Battista Moroni - The Knight in Black - Google Art Project.jpg, '' The Knight in Black'', , Museo Poldi Pezzoli, 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 Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from th ...

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

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 Mannerist painters Italian portrait painters