Berlinghiero Berlinghieri
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Berlinghiero also known as Berlinghiero Berlinghieri or Berlinghiero of Lucca (
fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...
1228 – between 1236 and 1242), was an Italian painter in the
Italo-Byzantine Italo-Byzantine is a style term in art history, mostly used for medieval paintings produced in Italy under heavy influence from Byzantine art. It initially covers religious paintings copying or imitating the standard Byzantine icon types, but pa ...
style of the early thirteenth century. He was the father of the painters Barone Berlinghieri, Bonaventura Berlinghieri, and Graco Berlinghieri. His actual name is unknown, as he is known from the inscription "Berlingerius me pinxit" on the crucifix which is the basis of attributing other works to the name. The form "Berlinghiero Berlinghieri", once common in art history, is certainly not his name according to Edward B. Garrison and most recent sources, however, his commonly accepted name is still Berlinghiero. He is also mentioned in a parchment of March 22, 1228, among the names of the residents of
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 ...
who swore to keep the peace with
Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...
after a five-year war. The original document has been lost since the mid-19th century and only a somewhat garbled 17th-century transcription exists today, giving rise to the mistaken interpretation of attributing him an incorrect name and an incorrect Lombardic origin.''Toward a New History of Lucchese Painting''
by Edward B. Garrison, ''
The Art Bulletin The College Art Association of America (CAA) is the principal organization in the United States for professionals in the visual arts, from students to art historians to emeritus faculty. Founded in 1911, it "promotes these arts and their understan ...
'', Vol. 33, No. 1 (Mar. 1951), pp. 11–31.
Since his two adult sons were also mentioned in that document, it can be argued that Berlinghiero was then between 35 and 40 years old. This puts his birthday in the year 1175, and his death in the year 1236.


Style and works

His art style was late Romanesque, mainly line-based, with neohellenistic and Byzantine influences. He is considered to be one of the main artists of the Tuscan art of the period. He is also one of the few artists who painted in what is considered the
Italo-Byzantine Italo-Byzantine is a style term in art history, mostly used for medieval paintings produced in Italy under heavy influence from Byzantine art. It initially covers religious paintings copying or imitating the standard Byzantine icon types, but pa ...
style to whom work can be attributed with certainty, though distinguishing his work from that of his sons is sometimes difficult. His earliest work, or at least that attributed to him, is the "Madonna di sotto gli organi" in the
Cathedral of Pisa Pisa Cathedral (), officially the Primatial Metropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary (), is a medieval Catholic cathedral dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, in the Piazza dei Miracoli in Pisa, Italy, the oldest of the three st ...
and dates no earlier than 1210. One of his more famous works, ''Madonna and Child,'' is now on display at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
. It exemplifies several key elements that typify it as quintessentially Byzantine, but it also contains later Italian elements. One can begin with the most recognizable attributes, for example, the halos, the flat and uncrowded gold background, and the blue and red robes of the Virgin and her long features. The golden background and halos surrounding the heads of the Virgin and Child are common in the Byzantine representation of divine or holy figures, as are the colours used throughout the composition. These golden halos differ between the two figures in the painting—Christ's is articulated by an inlaid cruciform to distinguish his divine status. The Madonna boasts timeless stylized features of the Virgin. Her fingers, nose, and neck are exaggeratedly long and slender and her face itself is elongated and narrow. Her soulful eyes are large and intensely focused, lending her visage a particular elegance. Upon seeing the painting in person, one can observe a red tint in the cheeks of both Jesus and Mary that gives the flesh a lifelike quality—more vivacious, in fact, than its Byzantine predecessors. The particular depth created by the shading of the faces, Mary's in particular—an attribute of early Italian painting—also gives it an air of naturalism that Byzantine figures often lacked.Christiansen, Keith, ''Madonna and Child'', by Berlinghiero
Metropolitan Museum of Art catalogue page
2011
Works by Berlinghieri can be found at the San Matteo National Museum in
Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...
, the National Museum of Villa Guinigi in Lucca, the church of Santa Maria Assunta in Villa Basilica near Lucca, the
North Carolina Museum of Art The North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) is an art museum in Raleigh, North Carolina. It opened in 1956 as the first major museum collection in the country to be formed by state legislation and funding. Since the initial 1947 appropriation that ...
in
Raleigh Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...
, the
Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Located in the Wade Park District of University Circle, the museum is internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian art, Asian and Art of anc ...
, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
.


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berlinghieri, Berlinghiero 13th-century Italian painters Italian male painters Gothic painters Painters from Lucca Year of birth unknown 1230s deaths Romanesque artists