Amico Aspertini, also called Amerigo Aspertini (* cca 1474,

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

– 1552,

), was an

Italian Renaissance painter Italian Renaissance painting is the painting of the period beginning in the late 13th century and flourishing from the early 15th to late 16th centuries, occurring in the Italian Peninsula, which was at that time divided into many political sta ...

and sculptor whose complex, eccentric, and eclectic style anticipates

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 ...

. He is considered one of the leading exponents of the Bolognese School of painting.

Biography

He was born in

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. Biography He was born at Ferrara, but moved to Bologna by his early twenties, and was probably influenced by the Bolognese school, 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 and 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 Renaissance painter. He acquired his nickname (meaning "little painter") because of his small stature a ...

and

Filippino Lippi Filippino Lippi (probably 1457 – 18 April 1504) was an Italian Renaissance painter mostly working in Florence, Italy during the later years of the Early Renaissance and first few years of the High Renaissance. He also worked in Rome for a ...

(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 1 ...

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 The Basilica of San Giacomo Maggiore is an historic Roman Catholic church in Bologna, region of Emilia Romagna, Italy, serving a monastery of Augustinian friars. It was built starting in 1267 and houses, among the rest, the Bentivoglio Chapel, f ...

, 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 House of Bentivoglio, Bentivogli ...

. 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 spot, ...

Lucca Città di 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 of Lucca, province has a population of 383,9 ...

(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 (; ; born Giulio di Giuliano 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 most unfortunate of ...

and Emperor

Charles V Charles V may refer to: Kings and Emperors * 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 Others * Charles V, Duke ...

in 1529. He produced sculptures for doors in

San Petronio Basilica The Basilica of San Petronio is a minor basilica and church of the Archdiocese of Bologna located in Bologna, Emilia Romagna, northern Italy. It dominates Piazza Maggiore. The basilica is dedicated to the patron saint of the city, Petronius of Bo ...

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 (30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance painter, architect, art historian, and biographer who is best known for his work ''Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'', considered the ideol ...

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 In art, chiaroscuro ( , ; ) 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 ach ...

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 (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...

. 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 Roman Empire, Emperor Nero largely on the Oppian Hill in the heart of ancient Rome after the Great Fire of Rome, great fire in 64 AD had destroyed a large part ...

, Rome *''A Baptismal Ceremony'' – Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery, Nashville, Tennessee *Frescoes, Oratorio di Santa Cecilia, Bologna * San Frediano, Lucca *

San Michele in Bosco San Michele in Bosco is a religious complex in Bologna, central Italy, including the church with the same name and the annexed Olivetan monastery. The buildings of the monastery were acquired in 1955 by the municipality of Bologna, to house an ...

, 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 *

, Bologna *''Profile of a Hero'' (1496) – Christian Museum,

Esztergom Esztergom (; ; or ; , known by Names of European cities in different languages: E–H#E, alternative names) is a city with county rights in northern Hungary, northwest of the capital Budapest. It lies in Komárom-Esztergom County, on the righ ...

*''Madonna Enthroned with Saints'', (c. 1515) –

San Martino, Bologna San Martino church, also called San Martino Maggiore is a Gothic-style, Roman Catholic church located at the corner of Via Marsala and Via Guglielmo Oberdan in Bologna, region of Emilia Romagna, Italy. The church was founded by the adjacent Carm ...

*''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 Italian Renaissance painters Fresco painters