Morto da Feltre was an Italian

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

of the Venetian school who worked at the close of the 15th century and beginning of the 16th.

Biography

His real name appears to have been Pietro Luzzo, Pietro LuciStefano Ticozzi ''Storia dei letterati e degli artisti del Dipartimento della Piave'' p. XIII. Belluno, 1813 or Lorenzo Luzzo; he is also known by the name Zarato or Zarotto, either from the place of his death or because his father, a surgeon, was in

Zara Zara may refer to: Businesses * Zara (retailer), a fashion retail company based in Spain * Zara Investment Holding, a Jordanian holding company * Continental Hotel Zara, Budapest, Hungary People and fictional characters * Zara (name), primari ...

during the son's childhood: whether he was termed "Morto" (dead) from his joyless temperament is a disputed point. Born in

Feltre Feltre (; ) is a town and ''comune'' of the province of Belluno in Veneto, northern Italy. A hill town in the southern reaches of the province, it is located on the Stizzon River, about from its junction with the Piave, and southwest from Bell ...

(

province of Belluno The province of Belluno (; ; ) is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Belluno. It has an area of and a population of about 198,000 people. Geography Situated in the Alps, the province of ...

), he may probably have studied painting first in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

and surroundings, initially an assistant of

Pinturicchio Pinturicchio, or Pintoricchio (, ; born Bernardino di Betto; 1454–1513), also known as Benetto di Biagio or Sordicchio, was an Italian Renaissance painter. He acquired his nickname (meaning "little painter") because of his small stature a ...

. It is claimed by Vasari that at an early age he went to

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, and investigated the ancient, especially the subterranean remains, and thence to

Pozzuoli Pozzuoli (; ; ) is a city and (municipality) of the Metropolitan City of Naples, in the Italian region of Campania. It is the main city of the Phlegrean Peninsula. History Antiquity Pozzuoli began as the Greek colony of ''Dicaearchia ...

, where he painted from the decorations of antique crypts or grotte. The style of fanciful arabesque which he formed for himself from these studies gained the name of "grottesche", whence comes the term grotesque; not, indeed, that Morto was the first painter of

arabesque The arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines, often combined with other elements. Another definition is "Foliate ...

in the

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( ) was a period in History of Italy, Italian history between the 14th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Western Europe and marked t ...

, for art of this kind had, been developed, both in painting and in sculpture, towards 1480, but he may have powerfully aided its diffusion southwards. His works were received with much favor in Rome. He afterwards went to

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 ...

, and painted some fine grotesques in the

Palazzo Pubblico The Palazzo Pubblico (town hall) is a historic palace in Siena, Tuscany, in central Italy. Located on the Piazza del Campo, it is one of the principal architectural landmarks of the city's historic center. Construction began in 1297 to serve ...

and trained Andrea di Cosimo. Returning to Venice towards 1505, he assisted

Giorgione Giorgio Barbarelli da Castelfranco (; 1470s – 17 September 1510), known as Giorgione, was an Italian painter of the Venetian school during the High Renaissance, who died in his thirties. He is known for the elusive poetic quality of his work, ...

in painting the

Fondaco dei Tedeschi The ''Fondaco dei Tedeschi'', a historic building in Venice, Italy, is situated along the Grand Canal, close to the iconic Rialto Bridge. It was a hostel and a warehouse for the city's German ''(Tedeschi)'' merchants and their imports. After b ...

, and seems to have remained with him till 1510. It may have been in 1515 that Morto returned to his native

, then in a very ruinous condition from the ravages of war in 1509. There he executed various works, including some frescoes, still partly extant, and considered to be almost worthy of the hand of

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...

, in the

loggia In architecture, a loggia ( , usually , ) is a covered exterior Long gallery, gallery or corridor, often on an upper level, sometimes on the ground level of a building. The corridor is open to the elements because its outer wall is only parti ...

beside the church of ''Santo Stefano''. He may have met

Giovanni da Udine 150px, Portrait in Vasari's Vite Giovanni Nanni, also Giovanni de' Ricamatori, better known as Giovanni da Udine (1487–1564), was an Italian painter and architect born in Udine. A painter also named ''Giovanni da Udine'' was exiled from his na ...

. Towards the age of forty-five, Morto, unquiet and dissatisfied, abandoned painting and took to soldiering in the service of the Venetian republic. He was made captain of a troop of two hundred men; and fighting valorously, he is said to have died at Zara in

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; ; ) is a historical region located in modern-day Croatia and Montenegro, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. Through time it formed part of several historical states, most notably the Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Croatia (925 ...

, in 1519. This story, and especially the date of it, are questionable: there is some reason to think that Morto was painting as late as 1522. One of his pictures is in the Berlin museum, an allegorical subject of ''Peace and War''.

Andrea Feltrini Andrea Feltrini, called also Andrea di Cosimo, was a Florentine painter who excelled in grotesques. He was born on 12 March 1477, and died on 12 May 1548. His works are to be met with at Florence on the fronts of houses, on walls, and on ceilings ...

was his pupil and assistant as a decorative painter. He is cited in

Giorgio Vasari Giorgio Vasari (30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance painter, architect, art historian, and biographer who is best known for his work ''Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'', considered the ideol ...

's '' Vite'' or biographies of the artists.

Notes

Sources

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External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morto da Feltre 15th-century births 16th-century deaths People from Feltre 15th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 16th-century Italian painters Italian Renaissance painters