MORONI, GIAMBATTISTA (c. 1510-1578)

This article appears in Volume V18, Page 861 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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MORONI, GIAMBATTISTA (c. 1510-1578) , Italian portrait-painter of the Venetian school, was born at

Albino

ALBINO

near Bergamo about 1513 ()I perhaps a few years later), and became a pupil of Bonvicino named I1 Moretto. Beyond the record of his works very few particulars regarding him have reached us. Titian, under whom also Moroni, while still very

young

, is said to have studied (but this appears hardly probable), had at any rate a high

opinion

OPINION (Lat. opinio, from opinari, to think)

of his powers; he said that Moroni made his portraits " living " or " actual " (veri). In truthful and animated portraiture Moroni ranks near Titian himself. His portraits do not indeed attain to a majestic monumental character; but they are full of straightforward life and individuality, with genuine unforced choice of attitude, and excellent texture and arrangement of draperies. There is a certain tendency to a violet-tint in the flesh, and the drawing and action of the hands are not first-rate. The earliest inscribed date discovered for any of his works is 1553. As leading samples may be mentionedin the Uffizi Gallery, Florence the " Nobleman pointing to a Flame," inscribed " Et quid volo nisi ut ardeat ? " ; in the National Gallery, London, the portraits of a Tailor, a member of the Fenaroli family, Canon Ludovico de'

Terzi

TERZI

, and others; in the Berlin Gallery, his own portrait; and in Stafford

House

HOUSE
HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
Gothic
- GOTHIC
it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)

, the seated half-figure of the Jesuit Ercole Tasso, currently termed " Titian's Schoolmaster "not as indicating any real connexion between the sitter and Titian, but only the consummate excellence of the

work

WORK

. Besides his portraits, Moroni painted, from youth to his latest days, the

ordinary

ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

round of sacred compositions; but in these he falls below his master II Moretto. One of the best is the " Coronation of the Virgin," in S. Alessandro della Croce, Bergamo; also in the cathedral of Verona, " SS Peter and Paul," and in the Brera of

Milan

MILAN
MILAN (Ital. Milano, Ger. Mailand, anc. Mediolanum, q.v.)

, the " Assumption of the Virgin." Moroni was engaged upon a " Last Judgment," in the church of Corlago, when he died on the 5th of February 1578. (W. M. R.)

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