Raffaele Motta (1550 – 1578), known as Raffaellino da Reggio, was an Italian

Mannerist Mannerism is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, when the Baroque style largely replaced it ...

style painter from

Reggio Emilia Reggio nell'Emilia (; ), usually referred to as Reggio Emilia, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, and known until Unification of Italy, 1861 as Reggio di Lombardia, is a city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has about 172,51 ...

, who mainly worked in

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, ...

. He assimilated the style of

Taddeo Zuccari Taddeo Zuccaro (or Zuccari) (1 September 15292 September 1566) was an Italian painter, one of the most popular members of the Roman mannerist school. Biography Zuccaro was born in Sant'Angelo in Vado, near Urbino, the son of Ottaviano Zuccaro, ...

and also developed more personal traits. In the last three years of his short life, he worked alongside Lorenzo Sabbatini in works for the Vatican commissioned by

Gregory XIII Pope Gregory XIII (, , born Ugo Boncompagni; 7 January 1502 – 10 April 1585) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 May 1572 to his death in April 1585. He is best known for commissioning and being the namesake ...

. The Late Mannerist painter and historian

Giovanni Baglione Giovanni Baglione (; 1566 – 30 December 1643) was an Italian Late Mannerist and Early Baroque painter and art historian. Although a prolific painter, Baglione is best remembered for his encyclopedic collection of biographies of the o ...

considered Raffaellino's early death a significant loss to art.

Biography

He was born at Codemondo near Reggio Emilia in 1550. According to his earliest biographer, Bonifacio Fantini, he was a builder's son who initially trained under Lelio Orsi in his studio in nearby

Novellara Novellara ( Reggiano: or ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Reggio Emilia, Emilia-Romagna, Italy and has a population of 13,670. It is north of Reggio Emilia and has a railway station for the local train going from Reggio to Guastall ...

, as well as with a medallist, Alfonso Ruspagiari. Fantini says he painted facades in Reggio Emilia and in

Guastalla Guastalla ( Guastallese: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Reggio Emilia in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. Geography Guastalla is situated in the Po Valley, and lies on the banks of the Po River. Guastalla is located at around from the citi ...

, where he worked for Cesare Gonzaga. By December 1570, he was in Rome, performing a commission for the cardinal Ippolito d’Este. In 1575, he worked with Giovanni de' Vecchi at the Villa Farnese in

Caprarola Caprarola is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Viterbo, in the Lazio region of central Italy. The village is situated in a range of volcanic hills known as the Cimini Mounts. The town is home to the large Renaissance mansion or villa ...

, painting in the Sala del Mappamondo (World Map) and the Camera degli Angeli. He also painted frescos for the Oratory of Gonfalone in Rome, including a depiction of ''Christ before Caiaphas''. He painted a ''Martyrdom of the four crowned saints'' for the Capella di San Silvestro in the church of

Santi Quattro Coronati Santi Quattro Coronati is an ancient titular and conventual minor basilica and Augustinian convent in Rome, Italy. The church dates back to the fourth or fifth century, and is devoted to four anonymous saints and martyrs. The complex of the ba ...

in Rome. In the last three years of his short life, he worked extensively at the Vatican alongside the Bolognese artist, Lorenzo Sabbatini, in work commissioned by

. He also appears to have worked in the Palazzino Gambara at

Villa Lante Villa Lante is a Mannerism, Mannerist garden of surprise in Bagnaia, Viterbo, Bagnaia, Viterbo, central Italy, attributed to Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola. Villa Lante did not become well known until it passed to Ippolito Lante Montefeltro della Rov ...

in Bagnaia. Taken together, his work in Rome displays an eclectic approach, often though not always assuming stylistic traits of the late

(he sometimes worked alongside

Federico Zuccari Federico Zuccaro, also known as Federico Zuccari and Federigo Zucchero ( July/August 1609), was an Italian painter, draughtsman, architect and writer. He worked in various cities in Italy, as well as in other countries such as Spain, France, t ...

, Taddeo's younger brother). The compositional felicities of his depictions of ''Tobias and the Angel'' and ''Diana and Acteon'', two of his surviving oil paintings, suggest an ideal stylistic connection with

Correggio Antonio Allegri da Correggio (August 1489 – 5 March 1534), usually known as just Correggio (, also , , ), was an Italian Renaissance painter who was the foremost painter of the Parma school of the High Renaissance, who was responsible for som ...

. He died prematurely in Rome in 1578 at around 28 years of age, overcome, according to

, by "malignant fever". In his artist's biography, Baglione enthused that "if a man of such talent as Raffaellino had lived longer, he would have moved on to amazing things". This assessment of his broader artistic potential has gained some recent critical support.

References

Early biographical sources

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External links

Raffaellino da Reggio (Biographical details)
from the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reggio, Raffaellino da 1550 births 1578 deaths Artists from Reggio Emilia 16th-century Italian painters Italian male painters Italian Mannerist painters Fresco painters