Lo Scheggia - Game of Civettino (a Birth Salver) - WGA20984

Lo Scheggia - Game of Civettino (a Birth Salver) - WGA20983

Giovanni di Ser Giovanni, (1406 – 1486) also known as Lo Scheggia, or "the Splinter" was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

painter who was born in

San Giovanni Valdarno San Giovanni Valdarno is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Arezzo, Tuscany, central Italy, located in the valley of the Arno River. History According to the Italian medieval historian Giovanni Villani, the town was founded in 1296, by ...

and was brother to the famous

Masaccio Masaccio (, , ; December 21, 1401 – summer 1428), born Tommaso di Ser Giovanni di Simone, was a Florentine artist who is regarded as the first great Italian painter of the Quattrocento period of the Italian Renaissance. According to Vasari, ...

Biography

Born in San Giovanni in Altura, now

, he moved with his family to

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 an ...

in 1417. Between 1420 and 1421 he came into relationship with Lorenzo Bicci, probably as an assistant in his workshop. In 1426 he was registered in Pisa as a guarantor for his brother Masaccio, and he refused his brother's inheritance in 1428, for the inconsistency. In 1429 the artist had his own workshop in Florence in the parish of Sant'Apollinare. In 1430 he joined the

Guild of Saint Luke The Guild of Saint Luke was the most common name for a city guild for painters and other artists in early modern Europe, especially in the Low Countries. They were named in honor of the Evangelist Luke, the patron saint of artists, who was ide ...

. He joined the "Guild of the Legnaioli" as a "forzerinario", or chest maker; then in 1433 he matriculated in the Art of Doctors and Apothecaries. Between 1436 and 1440 he provided the cartoons for the inlays of the Sacristy of the Florentine Cathedral. In these years, he manufactured luxury furniture especially for the clients in town and in the country he produced altarpieces and frescoes, a signed fragment of the latter being the Martyrdom of San Lorenzo in church of San Lorenzo in San Giovanni Valdarno. In 1449 on the occasion of the birth of

Lorenzo de' Medici Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici (; 1 January 1449 – 8 April 1492) was an Italian statesman, banker, ''de facto'' ruler of the Florentine Republic and the most powerful and enthusiastic patron of Renaissance culture in Italy. Also known as Lorenzo ...

Lo Scheggia painted the

Desco da parto A painted ''desco da parto'' (a birth tray or birth salver) was an important symbolic gift on the occasion of a successful birth in late medieval and Early Modern Florence and Siena. The surviving painted ''deschi'' represented in museum colle ...

with the Triumph of Fame now in the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Lo Scheggia died in 1486 and was buried in the basilica of Santa Croce. Also included in his catalog of works are: a ''Madonna and Child'' (1450), originally in the church of San Lorenzo in San Giovanni Valdarno and a

tempera Tempera (), also known as egg tempera, is a permanent, fast-drying painting medium consisting of colored pigments mixed with a water-soluble binder medium, usually glutinous material such as egg yolk. Tempera also refers to the paintings done ...

on a panel depicting the ''Choir of Angel Musicians'', part of the door from the vestry of the organ Oratory of San Lorenzo. In the former Abbey of

Vallumbrosan Order The Vallombrosians (alternately spelled Vallombrosans, Vallumbrosians or Vallumbrosans) are a monastic Religious order (Catholic), religious order in the Catholic Church. They are named after the location of Vallombrosa Abbey, their motherhouse fou ...

in Soffena is also preserved a fine Annunciation, while in the Accademia Gallery in Florence is the so-called Adimari Cassone, a panel with a party scene set in a city landscape in perspective, in which the

Florence Baptistery The Florence Baptistery, also known as the Baptistery of Saint John ( it, Battistero di San Giovanni), is a religious building in Florence, Italy, and has the status of a minor basilica. The octagonal baptistery stands in both the Piazza del ...

is recognisable.

References

Sources

Literature

Alessandro Delpriori, ''La giovinezza dello Scheggia e una Madonna col Bambino all'alba del Rinascimento'', Firenze, Frascione Arte, 2011.

External links

Art and the empire city: New York, 1825-1861
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on "Scheggia" (see index) {{Authority control 1406 births 1486 births People from the Province of Arezzo 15th-century Italian painters Italian male painters Italian Renaissance painters Painters from Tuscany