Filippo Rusuti, (c. 1255–c. 1325) was an Italian painter, active in Rome between 1288 and 1297, and in Naples around 1320. Rusuti belonged, along with Jacopo Torriti and

Pietro Cavallini Pietro Cavallini (1259 – ) was an Italian painter and mosaic designer working during the late Middle Ages. Biography Little is known about his biography, though it is known he was from Rome, since he signed ''pictor romanus''. His first nota ...

, to the so-called Roman school active in the late thirteenth century. Early in his career he worked on the

fresco Fresco ( 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 plaster, the painting become ...

decoration of the Upper

Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi The Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi (; ) is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Order of Friars Minor Conventual in Assisi, a town in the Umbria region in central Italy, where Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis was born and died. It is a pa ...

, perhaps alongside or after Torriti. The work included some parts of the story of

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Religion * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...

, in particular the creation of

Adam and Eve Adam and Eve, according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, were the first man and woman. They are central to the belief that humanity is in essence a single family, with everyone descended from a single pair of original ancestors. ...

and perhaps the construction of Noah's Ark. His only signed work is the upper register of the mosaic decoration of the old facade of the Roman church of Santa Maria Maggiore, where the presence of Cardinal Pietro Colonna allows dating of the mosaic between 1288 and 1297. Art historians believe that the lower register of the same mosaic, with the stories of the founding of the Santa Maria Liberiana, is to be considered an intervention a few years later by the followers of Rusuti based on his drawings. It was rebuilt for the presence of Rusuti (with his son John) in

Poitiers Poitiers is a city on the river Clain in west-central France. It is a commune in France, commune, the capital of the Vienne (department), Vienne department and the historical center of Poitou, Poitou Province. In 2021, it had a population of 9 ...

, on the basis of a more careful reading of documents (now lost) which attest to a Filippus Bizuti or rather Ruzuti in 1309, in 1316–17, in the service of the king of France, but perhaps also in the wake of a column at the papal court in

Avignon Avignon (, , ; or , ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the Communes of France, commune had a ...

. Around 1319 Rusuti went to

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

at the Angevins court following Cavallini for the fresco decoration of the church of

Santa Maria Donna Regina Vecchia Santa Donna Regina Vecchia is a church in Naples, in southern Italy. It is called ''Vecchia'' ("old") to distinguish it from the newer and adjacent church of Santa Maria Donna Regina Nuova. The earliest mention of a church on this site is from th ...

, where his figures are probably the Prophets. Still in Naples, around 1320 he created some scenes from the Life of Christ in the

Brancacci Chapel The Brancacci Chapel (in Italian language, Italian, "Cappella dei Brancacci") is a chapel in the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine di Firenze, Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence, central Italy. It is sometimes called the "Sistine Chapel of the ...

. In early June 2010, the artist and scholar Alfred Breitman attributed frescoes discovered in a tower of the palace Senate in the Capitol to Filippo Rusuti, with the consensus of historians of ancient art.

References

* F. Bologna, I pittori alla corte angioina di Napoli, 1266–1414, Roma 1969, pp. 132–135; * L. Bellosi, La pecora di Giotto, Torino 1985, pp. 20–25, 116–123; * La Pittura in Italia. Il Duecento e il Trecento, 2 voll., Milano, Electa, 1985, p. 435. . * Julian Gardner, Bizuti, Rusuti, Nicolaus and Johannes: some neglected documents concerning roman artists in France, "The Burlington magazine", 1011 (June 1987), pp. 381–383 * Giotto e la sua eredità, Firenze, E-ducation.it, 2007, pp. 58–60, 1255 births 1325 deaths 13th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 14th-century Italian painters {{Italy-painter-13thC-stub