Defendente Ferrari - Nativity in Nocturnal Light - WGA07812

Defendente Ferrari (c. 1480/1485 – c. 1540) was an Italian painter active in

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

. His work marks the transition from late Gothic traditions to

Renaissance art Renaissance art (1350 – 1620) is the painting, sculpture, and decorative arts of the period of European history known as the Renaissance, which emerged as a distinct style in Italy in about AD 1400, in parallel with developments which occurr ...

in the region.

Life and work

Ferrari was born at

Chivasso Chivasso (; ) is a communes of Italy, comune in the Metropolitan City of Turin, in the Italy, Italian region of Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin. Chivasso has a population of about 27,000. It is situated on the :wikt:left bank, left bank ...

, near

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

. Here he trained and initially worked in the workshop of

Giovanni Martino Spanzotti Giovanni Martino Spanzotti (c. 1455 – c. 1528; also known as ''Gian Martino Spanzotti'') was an Italian painter active in Piedmont, Lombardy and northern Italy. Biography He was born in Casale Monferrato and died in Chivasso. Little is kn ...

. Spanzotti had been the pre-eminent painter in western Piedmont after moving to Chivasso c. 1502. Many works previously thought to have been by Spanzotti are now attributed to Defendente.Riccardo Passoni. "Ferrari, Defendente." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 30 March 2016 Defendente achieved considerable success as a painter of

polyptych A polyptych ( ; Greek: ''poly-'' "many" and ''ptychē'' "fold") is a work of art (usually a panel painting) which is divided into sections, or panels. Some definitions restrict "polyptych" to works with more than three sections: a diptych is ...

s and altarpieces. He painted a number of nocturnal scenes such as the ''Nativity in Nocturnal Light'' (1510,

Museo Civico d'Arte Antica The Museo Civico d'Arte Antica is an art museum located in the Palazzo Madama in Turin, Italy. It has a renowned collection of paintings from the medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods. It reopened in 2006 after several years of restorations. ...

, Turin). He left a number of signed and dated works.''Italian Paintings: North Italian School''
a collection catalog containing information about Ferrari and his works (see index; plate 58), p. 17 His work developed away from its initial harsh style following Gothic traditions towards the use of more fluid brushstrokes and the creation of soft, dense highlights more in line with Renaissance painting. His style seems to indicate that he may have known the work of northern European artists such as

Rogier van der Weyden Rogier van der Weyden (; 1399 or 140018 June 1464), initially known as Roger de le Pasture (), was an Early Netherlandish painting, early Netherlandish painter whose surviving works consist mainly of religious triptychs, altarpieces, and commis ...

, while his later work shows the influence of

Macrino d'Alba Macrino d'Alba (c. 1460–1465 – c. 1510–1520) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance period, active mainly in Piedmont, who is known for his altarpieces and portraits. His birth name was ''Gian Giacomo de' Alladio''. Life The lack o ...

Selected works

*Triptych (1507) in the

Sacra di San Michele The Sacra di San Michele, sometimes known as Saint Michael's Abbey, is a religious complex on Mount Pirchiriano, situated on the south side of the Val di Susa in the territory of the municipality of Sant'Ambrogio di Torino, in the Metropolitan C ...

, Piedmont *''Nativity'' (1511), Church of St. John,

Avigliana Avigliana (; ; ) is a town and (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Piedmont region of Italy, with 12,129 inhabitants as of 1 January 2023. It lies about west of Turin in the Susa valley, on the motorway going from Turin to ...

, Piedmont *Polyptych of ''Sant'Ivo'',

Galleria Sabauda The Savoy Gallery () is an art collection in the Italian city of Turin, which contains the royal art collections amassed by the House of Savoy over the centuries. It is located on Via XX Settembre, 86. The museum, whose first directors were Robe ...

, Turin *''Bianzè Polypthych'', Museo Borgogna,

Vercelli Vercelli (; ) is a city and ''comune'' of 46,552 inhabitants (January 1, 2017) in the Province of Vercelli, Piedmont, northern Italy. One of the oldest urban sites in northern Italy, it was founded, according to most historians, around 600 BC. ...

, Piedmont *''St. Jerome in Penitence'', Museo Civico d'Arte Antica, Turin *''The Mourning of Christ'', Cathedral of

, Piedmont *''Madonna and Child'',

Galleria Palatina The Palazzo Pitti (), in English sometimes called the Pitti Palace, is a vast, mainly Renaissance, palace in Florence, Italy. It is situated on the south side of the River Arno, a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio. The core of the present pa ...

Pitti Palace The Palazzo Pitti (), in English sometimes called the Pitti Palace, is a vast, mainly Renaissance, palace in Florence, Italy. It is situated on the south side of the River Arno, a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio. The core of the present ...

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

Sources

* * Fantino Fabrizio, ''Defendente Ferrari e la critica d'arte nell'Otto e Novecento'', in «Annali di critica d’arte», III, 2007, pp. 175–217. * Fantino Fabrizio, ''Altare ipsum est munitum icona satis pulcra: i dipinti cinquecenteschi di Gerolamo Giovenone e di Defendente Ferrari'', in ''La chiesa di San Giovanni di

'', a cura di Paolo Nesta, Borgone di Susa, 2011, pp. 149–177. * Fantino Fabrizio, ''Il Battesimo di Cristo del duomo di Torino e un probabile disegno giovanile di Defendente Ferrari'', in ''Mosaico. Temi e metodi d'arte e di critica per Gianni Carlo Sciolla'', 2 vols., a cura di Rosanna Cioffi e Ornella Scognamiglio, Napoli, 2012, I, pp. 33–40.

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External links

1480s births 1540s deaths People from Chivasso 15th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 16th-century Italian painters Painters from Piedmont {{Italy-painter-15thC-stub