Pietro Cavallini (1259 – c. 1330) was an Italian painter and

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

designer working during the late

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

Biography

Little is known about his biography, though it is known he was from

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 ...

, since he signed ''pictor romanus''. His first notable works were the fresco cycles for the

Basilica di San Paolo fuori le Mura The Papal Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls ( it, Basilica Papale di San Paolo fuori le Mura), commonly known as Saint Paul's Outside the Walls, is one of Rome's four Basilicas in the Catholic Church#Major and papal basilicas, major papa ...

, with stories from the

New New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

and

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

(1277–1285). They were destroyed by the fire of 1823. His ''

Last Judgment The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Reckoning, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, Doomsday, Day of Resurrection or The Day of the Lord (; ar, یوم القيامة, translit=Yawm al-Qiyāmah or ar, یوم الدین, translit=Yawm ad-Dīn, ...

'' in the Church of

Santa Cecilia in Trastevere Santa Cecilia in Trastevere is a 5th-century church in Rome, Italy, in the Trastevere rione, devoted to the Roman martyr Saint Cecilia (early 3rd century AD). History The first church on this site was founded probably in the 3rd century, by ...

in Rome, painted c. 1293 and considered Cavallini's masterwork, demonstrates an artistic style known as Roman naturalism. This naturalism influenced the work of artists working in other Italian cities such as

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 ...

and

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centur ...

. In the Sienese school, the influence of classical Roman forms combined with the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

artistic heritage of the region and with northern

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

influences to form a naturalized painting style that was one of the origins of International Gothic. In Florence, the influence of classical Roman forms combined with the Byzantine artistic heritage of the region to spark an interest in volumetric, naturalistic paintings and statuary. This work is in stark contrast to the comparatively flat and ornamented Gothic, International Gothic, and Byzantine styles. This naturalism is also evident in the

Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi The Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi ( it, Basilica di San Francesco d'Assisi; la, Basilica Sancti Francisci Assisiensis) is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Order of Friars Minor Conventual in Assisi, a town in the Umbria region in c ...

Assisi Assisi (, also , ; from la, Asisium) is a town and '' comune'' of Italy in the Province of Perugia in the Umbria region, on the western flank of Monte Subasio. It is generally regarded as the birthplace of the Latin poet Propertius, born arou ...

, built in the early years of the 13th century in honour of the newly canonized St. Francis. As the shrine was commissioned by the Roman church, its interior is painted in the Roman tradition. The identities of the artists at work in this church are for the most part not known but at least one team of artists came from Rome. Owing to the similarity of the work in San Francesco to that of Florentine artist

Giotto Giotto di Bondone (; – January 8, 1337), known mononymously as Giotto ( , ) and Latinised as Giottus, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence during the Late Middle Ages. He worked during the Gothic/ Proto-Renaissance period. G ...

, he was traditionally credited with some of the

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plast ...

es, although most scholars no longer believe he was involved. Giotto's work in the Arena Chapel (also known as the Scrovegni Chapel) at

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

strongly shows the influence of stylized Roman naturalism in a newly individualized style which would come to characterize the work of Florentine Renaissance artists. From 1308 Cavallini worked in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...

at the court of King Charles II of Anjou, notably in the churches of San Domenico Maggiore (1308) and Santa Maria Donnaregina (1317), together with his fellow Roman Filippo Rusuti. He returned to Rome before 1325, beginning the external decoration of the

in 1321, with a series of Byzantine-style mosaics. Cavallini's pupils included Giovanni di Bartolommeo.

Works

His works include: *''Jael and Tisseran'' (date unknown), watercolour *''Scenes from the life of Mary'' (c. 1298), mosaics at the apse of Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere in Rome. The six scenes were made by the order of Bertoldo Stefaneschi, brother of Cardinal Giacomo Gaetani Stefaneschi, and include a

donor portrait A donor portrait or votive portrait is a portrait in a larger painting or other work showing the person who commissioned and paid for the image, or a member of his, or (much more rarely) her, family. ''Donor portrait'' usually refers to the portr ...

of him. These mosaics are praised for their realistic portrayal and attempts at perspective: **''Nativity of the Virgin'' **''Annunciation'' **''The Birth of Jesus'' **''Adoration of the Magi'' **''Presentation in the Temple'' **''Dormition'' *''The Last Judgment'' (1295–1298), part of fresco cycle at

in Rome. The apse paintings at

San Giorgio al Velabro San Giorgio in Velabro is a church in Rome, Italy, dedicated to St. George. The church is located next to the Arch of Janus in the rione of Ripa in the ancient Roman Velabrum. According to the founding legend of Rome, the church was built wh ...

, Rome, have been attributed to him on the basis of stylistic similarity to the Trastevere paintings. The apse mosaic of the

San Crisogono San Crisogono is a church in Rome (rione Trastevere) dedicated to the martyr Saint Chrysogonus. It was one of the tituli, the first parish churches of Rome, and was probably built in the 4th century under Pope Sylvester I (314–335). ...

church in the

Trastevere Trastevere () is the 13th '' rione'' of Rome: it is identified by the initials R. XIII and it is located within Municipio I. Its name comes from Latin ''trans Tiberim'', literally 'beyond the Tiber'. Its coat of arms depicts a golden head of a li ...

district, depicting the ''Mary with Sts. Sebastian and Chrysogonos'', is also attributed to Cavallini. The illustrated Clement Bible has been attributed to Cavallini or his workshop.

References

* Enio Sindona, Pietro Cavallini, editorial Italian Institute, Milan 1958. * Guglielmo Matthiae, Pietro Cavallini, De Luca, Rome 1972. * Paul Hetherington, Pietro Cavallini: a study in the art of Late Medieval Rome, The Sagittarius Press, London 1979. * Angiola Maria Romanini, The Eyes of Isaac. Classicism and scientific curiosity between Giotto and Arnolfo di Cambio, in "Medieval art", ns, I (1987). * Emma Simi Varanelli, From Isaac Master in Giotto. Contribution to the history of medieval perspectiva communis, in "Medieval Art", ns III (1989), p. 115-143. * Serena Romano, Eclipse in Rome: mural painting in Rome and Lazio by Boniface VIII to Martin V (1295-1431), Argos, Rome 1992. * Alessandro Parronchi, Cavallini disciple of Giotto, Florence 1994. * Pierluigi De Vecchi and Elda Cerchiari, The Times of art, Volume 1 Simon and Schuster, Milano 1999 * Alessandro Tomei, Pietro Cavallini, Silvana, Cinisello Balsamo 2000. * Bruno Zanardi, Giotto and Pietro Cavallini: the question of Assisi and the medieval construction of fresco painting, Skira, Milan 2002. * Roman paintings of Giotto and Cavallini, catalogue of the exhibition held in Rome in 2004 by Thomas Angelo and Strinati Tartuferi, Electa, Milano 2004.

External links

Pietro Cavallini's The Last Judgement

Smarthistory Smarthistory is a free resource for the study of art history created by art historians Beth Harris and Steven Zucker. Smarthistory is an independent not-for-profit organization and the official partner to Khan Academy Khan Academy is an Americ ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cavallini, Pietro 1250 births 1330 deaths Painters from Rome 13th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 14th-century Italian painters Trecento painters Gothic painters Mosaic artists