Renaissance Artists of Brescia
They specialized in painting stunning religious themes, lively mythological subjects, and naturalistic portraits
Brescia, known in medieval days as Brixia, is a dynamic city in northern Italy. It has a rich artistic heritage that spans ancient times to the Renaissance to today.
For those who enjoy traveling, Brescia, an intriguing city filled with activities, is located about an hour from Milan, Bergamo, Verona, Parma and Cremona, less than two hours from Venice and Padua, and two-and-a-half hours from Florence.
One important museum in Brescia is the Monastery of Santa Giulia, a complex of churches, cloisters, villas, and the monastery that dates to 753. The monastery houses an archaeological museum, known as the Roman Museum, that contains a wide variety of artifacts; the museum itself hosts many large art shows.
Another museum of note is the Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo, housed in a 16th-century Renaissance palazzo, which features works of art in the so called "Brescia school" of painting.
In 1426, Brescia became a possession of the Republic of Venice, and remained such until 1796 when Venice began to decline. Under Venice's liberal rule, the city of Brescia experienced a period of rich economic and civic growth. The influence of the Renaissance artists of Venice in the work of the artists of Brescia is evident in their similar use of stunning colors and bright luminosity and in their realistic depiction of nature and people.
A noteworthy Brescian painter is Alessandro Bonvicino, known as "Moretto de Brescia," born about 1498. He was an eager student of the works of the great master Titian and closely imitated his work. Bonvicino's manner of painting is naturalistic; his use of color is remarkable for its freshness and brightness; and his figures are graceful and very real. An influential painting is his Pieta, showing the grief and mourning of the Virgin Mary in a very authentic way. Though his use of color is rich like those of the rather more cosmopolitan Venetians who influenced him, the painting is dark and emotional to match the intense religious atmosphere important to a provincial Renaissance city like Brescia.
Bonvicino himself had as a pupil a superb portrait painter, Giovanni Battista Moroni. Moroni's portraits are characterized by their interesting psychological depth, their dignified air, and a unique silvery tone. On a visit to Trento, Italy, he made contact with Titian and was thereafter regularly commissioned as an alternative portraitist to Titian. Many aristocratic lords and ladies sat for his portraits. This created a stream of paintings of people shown by Moroni with dignified humanity and concrete detail, displayed with a Venetian flair for color and style also popular at the time. For example, The Tailor shows an unidentified man at work, wearing the doublet and hose of his day and using the tools of his trade. In Portrait of a Lady Moroni has created a beautiful painting again noted for a rich color palette and silvery tone. The portrait is unusual in that it shows the subject in a seated full-length format -- an uncommon tribute for a woman, and particularly for a non-aristocrat. And finally, Portrait of the Cavalier in Red shows a man with a haughty expression in all the exquisite details of his clothes and his realistic surroundings.
Ultimately, "heroic" may not be the way to describe these people portrayed by Moroni, but they are all real-life people well grounded in everyday life. Their personalities are vividly conveyed by the artist's rendering of nuances of facial expressions and the details of their physical appearance and environment.
Source:
Hibbard, Howard. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: Crown, 1980.
