Gentile da Fabriano
(c. 1370-1427). Italian painter named after his birthplace, Fabriano
in the Marches. He carried out important commissions in several major
Italian art centers and was recognized as one of the foremost artists
of his day, but most of the work on which his great contemporary reputation
was based has been destroyed. It included frescos in the Doges' Palace in
Venice (1408) and for St John Lateran in Rome (1427).
In between he worked in Florence, Siena, and Orvieto. His major surviving
work is the celebrated altarpiece of the
Adoration of the Magi
(Uffizi, Florence, 1423),
painted for the church of Sta Trinità in Florence, which places him alongside
Ghiberti
as the greatest exponent of the
International Gothic style
in Italy. It is remarkable not only for its exquisite decorative beauty but
also for the naturalistic treatment of lignt in the
predella,
where there is a night scene with three different light sources.
The Adoration of the Magi (detail)
1422 (80 Kb); Tempera on wood panel; Uffizi
Gentile had widespread influence (much more so initially that his great
contemporary
Masaccio,
notably on
Pisanello,
his assistant in Venice,
Jacopo Bellini,
who worked with him in Florence, and
Fra Angelico,
who was his greatest heir.
Gentile da Fabriano
The Adoration of the Magi (detail)