Ottaviano Nelli (1375–1444?) was an Italian painter of the early

Quattrocento The cultural and artistic events of Italy during the period 1400 to 1499 are collectively referred to as the Quattrocento (, , ) from the Italian word for the number 400, in turn from , which is Italian for the year 1400. The Quattrocento encom ...

. Nelli primarily painted frescoes, but also

panel painting A panel painting is a painting made on a flat panel of wood, either a single piece or a number of pieces joined together. Until canvas became the more popular support medium in the 16th century, panel painting was the normal method, when not paint ...

s. He had several pupils and two painters were influenced by him.

Biography

He was born in

Gubbio Gubbio () is an Italian town and ''comune'' in the far northeastern part of the Italian province of Perugia (Umbria). It is located on the lowest slope of Mt. Ingino, a small mountain of the Apennines. History The city's origins are very ancient. ...

Umbria it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , ...

to the painter Martino Nelli, and was active there and in

Perugia Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and pa ...

(1400),

Urbino Urbino ( ; ; Romagnol: ''Urbìn'') is a walled city in the Marche region of Italy, south-west of Pesaro, a World Heritage Site notable for a remarkable historical legacy of independent Renaissance culture, especially under the patronage of F ...

, Assisi, and Foligno. Among his pupils was his brother Tommaso, Domenico Di Cecco di Baldi, Giovanni Pintali, Giacomo Di Bedo, and Ubaldo Di Matteo. Nelli was "consul" (a local government representative) for the Sant'Andrea district of Gubbio in 1440 and during the same year, the priors of

had him paint the

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

of the duke Gian Galeazzo Visconti with the help of

Francesco d'Antonio Francesco d'Antonio or d'Antonio di Bartolomeo (born 1393, active until 1452) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance, mainly active in Florence. He is likely the same ''Francesco Fiorentino'' that Giorgio Vasari in his biographies states was a ...

and Christoforo di Nicoluccio from Perugia. In 1403, he painted ''Madonna del Belvedere'' at Gubbio and the '' Polyptych of Pietralunga''. Nelli painted the frescoes of the Trinci Palace in Foligno in 1424. From 1428 to 1432, he was a part of the brotherhood of

Santa Croce, Florence The (Italian for 'Basilica of the Holy Cross') is the principal Franciscan church in Florence, Italy, and a minor basilica of the Roman Catholic Church. It is situated on the Piazza di Santa Croce, about 800 meters south-east of the Duomo. The ...

and worked on the painting ''Madonna Crowned by Angels'' for the church. In 1441, Domenico di Cecco became his pupil and sometime around that year he adopted a son named Mars. His wife Balda died sometime before 1458. The painters

Gentile da Fabriano Gentile da Fabriano ( – 1427) was an Italian painter known for his participation in the International Gothic painter style. He worked in various places in central Italy, mostly in Tuscany. His best-known works are his ''Adoration of the Magi ...

and Giovanni Sanzio were influenced by Nelli. It is believed that Fabriano and Nelli worked together to decorate the church

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...

of Sant'Agostino, Gubbio. Nelli and his workshop primarily painted frescoes, many of them churches in Gubbio and the nearby cities in

. He painted some easel paintings on panel, but they are rare. One of his easel paintings can be found in the church of Sant'Agostino, Gubbio, but it has been almost entirely repainted. A second similar easel painting is at

Montefalco Montefalco is a historic small hill town in Umbria, Italy, with a population of 5,581 in August 2017. It has been settled since pre-Roman times, and retains many of its historic buildings. From 1446 to 1861 it was part of the Papal States. Montef ...

. Austen Henry Layard wrote that Nelli's easel paintings were "far inferior to his works in fresco".

Death

Nothing is recorded about Nelli after 1444, and it is presumed that he died during that year. Many local artists who were influenced by him did not become significant. The Gubbian school, which he was a part of, was taken over by the one which

Perugino Pietro Perugino (, ; – 1523), born Pietro Vannucci, was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Umbrian school, who developed some of the qualities that found classic expression in the High Renaissance. Raphael was his most famous pupil. Ea ...

started at

by the end of the 15th century.

Works

* ''Madonna del Belvedere'' (1403), Church of Santa Maria Nuova, Gubbio. * ''

Life of the Virgin The Life of the Virgin, showing narrative scenes from the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus, is a common subject for pictorial cycles in Christian art, often complementing, or forming part of, a cycle on the Life of Christ. In both cases the ...

'' (1408 - 1413 circa), Fresco cycle, Church of San Francesco, Gubbio. * ''Madonna del latte e angeli'', Urbino, Oratorio dell'Umiltà. * ''Life of the Virgin'' (1424), Fresco cycle, Foligno, Chapel of

Palazzo Trinci The Trinci Palace is a patrician residence in the center of Foligno, central Italy. It houses an archaeological museum, the city's picture gallery, a multimedia museum of Tournaments and Jousts and the Civic Museum. History Palazzo Trinci was t ...

. * ''Madonna del latte'' (post 1427), Urbino, Oratory of Santa Croce. *Panels from a

polyptych A polyptych ( ; Greek: ''poly-'' "many" and ''ptychē'' "fold") is a painting (usually panel painting) which is divided into sections, or panels. Specifically, a "diptych" is a two-part work of art; a " triptych" is a three-part work; a tetrapt ...

, of before 1430, now divided (with at least one missing): **''Nativity of Christ'',

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 th ...

, Worcester, Mass. **''Saint Jerome'',

Musée du Petit Palais, Avignon The Musée du Petit Palais is a museum and art gallery in Avignon, southern France. It opened in 1976 and has an exceptional collection of Renaissance paintings of the Avignon school as well as from Italy, which reunites many "primitives" from ...

**''Circumcision of Christ'' and ''Mystical Marriage of Saint Francis, Pinacoteca, Vatican * ''Life of Saint Augustine'', fresco cycle, c. 1430-40, Sant'Agostino, Gubbio * ''Madonna della misericordia e santi'', Urbino, Church of the Madonna dell'Homo * ''Last Judgement'', fresco, Church of Sant'Agostino, Gubbio. * ''Madonna'', fresco, Church of Santa Maria della Piaggiola, Gubbio

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelli, Ottaviano 14th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 15th-century Italian painters Quattrocento painters 1375 births Year of death unknown People from Gubbio Umbrian painters