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

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 ...

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 t ...

and was the younger brother of 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 List of Italian painters, Italian painter of the Quattrocento period of the Italian Renaiss ...

. He and his workshop mostly produced second tier works such as

cassone A cassone (plural ''cassoni'') or marriage chest is a rich and showy Italian type of chest, which may be inlaid or carved, prepared with gesso ground then painted and gilded. ''Pastiglia'' was decoration in low relief carved or moulded in ...

panels and desci da parto (birth trays) for Florence, but larger works for churches in the country.

Biography

Born in San Giovanni in Altura, now

, he moved with his family to Florence in 1417. Between 1420 and 1421 he came into a relationship with Lorenzo Bicci, probably as an assistant in his workshop. In 1426 he was registered 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 ...

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 iden ...

. 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 Sacristy of the Florentine Cathedral. In these years, he manufactured and painted 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 (), known as Lorenzo the Magnificent (; 1 January 1449 – 9 April 1492), was an Italian statesman, the ''de facto'' ruler of the Florentine Republic, and the most powerful patron of Renaissance culture in Italy. Lore ...

Lo Scheggia painted the

Desco da parto A painted ''desco da parto'' (a birth tray or birth salver; : ''deschi da parto'') 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'' repr ...

with the Triumph of Fame now in 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 ...

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

. 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 pigments mixed with a water-soluble binder medium, usually glutinous material such as egg yolk. ''Tempera'' also refers to the paintings done in ...

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 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 (), is a religious building in Florence, Italy. Dedicated to the patron saint of the city, John the Baptist, it has been a focus of religious, civic, and artistic life since its ...

is recognisable.

Gallery

File:Lo Scheggia — Triumph of love.jpg, Triumph of Love File:Lo Scheggia - Game of Civettino (a Birth Salver) - WGA20984.jpg,

, with a game of Civettino, recto c. 1450, by Giovanni di ser Giovanni Guidi File:Lo Scheggia - Game of Civettino (a Birth Salver) - WGA20983.jpg, Verso, as last. Two toddlers engage in no holds barred wrestling

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 deaths People from the Province of Arezzo 15th-century Italian painters Italian male painters Italian Renaissance painters Painters from Tuscany