Lo Spagna in the context of Pietro di Giovanni D'Ambrogio


Lo Spagna in the context of Pietro di Giovanni D'Ambrogio

⭐ Core Definition: Lo Spagna

Lo Spagna (died c. 1529), "the Spaniard" in Italian, was a painter of the Renaissance, active in central Italy. His name was Giovanni di Pietro, but he was known as Lo Spagna because he was of Spanish heritage. He was an important assistant and follower of the Umbrian painter Perugino, whose style his paintings developed. He should not be confused with Pietro di Giovanni D'Ambrogio of Siena.

Lo Spagna is known for a number of major works completed in the region, including the Birth of the Virgin from Spineta in Todi, the Adoration of the Magi of Ferentillo and the Nativity of St Anthony in Perugia. Lo Spagna married Santina Martorelli from one of Spoleto's leading families and here he was nominated Capitano delle Arti dei Pittori e degli Orefici in 1517. He died in 1528, possibly of the plague.

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Lo Spagna in the context of Marriage of the Virgin (Perugino)

The Marriage of the Virgin is a painting by the Italian Renaissance master Perugino, although it is now sometimes attributed to his pupil Lo Spagna. It depicts the marriage between Joseph and Mary, and is now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts of Caen, France. Initially commissioned to Pinturicchio for the recently completed cathedral of Perugia, Perugino took over the commission and finished the work around 1500–1504, probably after several periods of stasis.

A very similar composition was painted by unknown artists (sometimes attributed to Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, probable teacher of Perugino or Rocco Zoppo, assistant of Perugino) for the church of San Girolamo in Spello in 1492. Which (if present scholarship is correct) is about ten years earlier than Perugino's and Raphael's treatments of the same subject. The composition of the earlier work does not utilize the elegant central perspective appearing in Perugino's and Raphael's more famous works. However, the figures in the foreground are very similar to both later paintings, including the unmistakable young man breaking the rod.

View the full Wikipedia page for Marriage of the Virgin (Perugino)
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