Ventura Salimbeni
Encyclopedia
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
Mannerist
Mannerism
Mannerism is a period of European art that emerged from the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520. It lasted until about 1580 in Italy, when a more Baroque style began to replace it, but Northern Mannerism continued into the early 17th century throughout much of Europe...
painter and printmaker and among the last representatives of a style influenced by the earlier Sienese School
Sienese School
The Sienese School of painting flourished in Siena, Italy between the 13th and 15th centuries and for a time rivaled Florence, though it was more conservative, being inclined towards the decorative beauty and elegant grace of late Gothic art...
of Quattrocento
Quattrocento
The cultural and artistic events of 15th century Italy are collectively referred to as the Quattrocento...
-Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
.
Biography
Salimbeni was born in SienaSiena
Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. It is one of the nation's most visited tourist attractions, with over 163,000 international arrivals in 2008...
. He studied painting, together with his half-brother Francesco Vanni
Francesco Vanni
Francesco Vanni was an Italian painter of the Mannerist style, active in Rome and his native city of Siena.-Biography:He was half-brother of the painter Ventura Salimbeni, and the stepson of Arcangelo Salimbeni, another Sienese painter. His stepfather died when Francesco was young, and as a 16...
, under their father Arcangelo Salimbeni in his native Siena,
He possibly spent some time,in Northern Italy and then moved to Rome in 1588 to work, together with others, on the fresco painting of the Vatican Library under pope Sixtus V.
During 1590-1591, he got a commission by Cardinal Bonifazio Bevilacqua Aldobrandini
Bonifazio Bevilacqua Aldobrandini
Bonifazio Bevilacqua Aldobrandini was an Italian Cardinal. He was the uncle of Pope Gregory XIV.-Biography:In 1601, Pope Clement VIII associated Count Luigi Bevilacqua and his two brothers, Conte Bonifazio IV and Conte Alfonso II , with his own family granting them use of his family’s...
for paintings in the Roman Jesuit Church of the Gesù
Church of the Gesu
The Church of the Gesù is the mother church of the Society of Jesus, a Roman Catholic religious order also known as the Jesuits. Officially named , its facade is "the first truly baroque façade", introducing the baroque style into architecture ,. The church served as model for innumerable Jesuit...
and the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore
Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore
The Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major , known also by other names, is the largest Roman Catholic Marian church in Rome, Italy.There are other churches in Rome dedicated to Mary, such as Santa Maria in Trastevere, Santa Maria in Aracoeli, Santa Maria sopra Minerva, but the greater size of the...
. These paintings show the influence of the Mannerist Cavalier D'Arpino and Andrea Lillio.
Salimbeni returned to Siena in 1595. Here he became one of the last leaders of the Mannerist
Mannerism
Mannerism is a period of European art that emerged from the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520. It lasted until about 1580 in Italy, when a more Baroque style began to replace it, but Northern Mannerism continued into the early 17th century throughout much of Europe...
school, in this period between Mannerism and Baroque. He was here influenced by Federico Barocci
Federico Barocci
Federico Barocci was an Italian Renaissance painter and printmaker. His original name was Federico Fiori, and he was nicknamed Il Baroccio, which still in northwestern Italian dialects means a two wheel cart drawn by oxen...
as can be seen in the draperies, highlighted with abrupt changes of light and flickering surfaces, of his painting "Birth of a Virgin" in the San Domenico church in Ferrara
Ferrara
Ferrara is a city and comune in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital city of the Province of Ferrara. It is situated 50 km north-northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream of the Po River, located 5 km north...
(1607-1608).
He completed painting cycles (1595-1602) for Sienese churches such as the oratory in the Santa Trinità. He is known for detailed preparatory drawings, most of which are now in the Uffizi
Uffizi
The Uffizi Gallery , is a museum in Florence, Italy. It is one of the oldest and most famous art museums of the Western world.-History:...
in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
or the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco. He started around 1600 painting the scenes from the "Life of St. Hyacinth" for the Sienese church of Santo Spirito. These paintings show the awkward perspective of the style of the Sienese Mannerist painter Beccafumi
Domenico di Pace Beccafumi
Domenico di Pace Beccafumi was an Italian Renaissance-Mannerist painter active predominantly in Siena. He is considered one of the last undiluted representatives of the Sienese school of painting.-Biography:...
in the backdrop of buildings and landscape. In Siena, Salimbeni completed several painting cycles for the church of Santo Spirito. He continued to create paintings for churches throughout Italy, including Florence. At the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata di Firenze
Basilica della Santissima Annunziata di Firenze
The Basilica della Santissima Annunziata is a Roman Catholic minor basilica in Florence, Italy, the mother church of the Servite order. It is located at the northeastern side of the Piazza Santissima Annunziata....
, he frescoed lunettes (1605-1608) illustrating events in the history of the Servite Order
Servite Order
The Servite Order is one of the five original Catholic mendicant orders. Its objects are the sanctification of its members, preaching the Gospel, and the propagation of devotion to the Mother of God, with special reference to her sorrows. The members of the Order use O.S.M. as their post-nominal...
. In the Duomo di San Salvatore
San Salvatore
San Salvatore is the name of a number of places in Italy, including the communes of*San Salvatore di Fitalia, Province of Messina*San Salvatore Monferrato, Province of Alessandria*San Salvatore Telesino, Province of BeneventoAlso...
, he executed a magnificent John the Baptist.
At about the same time, around 1600, he got an assignment in Assisi
Assisi
- Churches :* The Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi is a World Heritage Site. The Franciscan monastery, il Sacro Convento, and the lower and upper church of St Francis were begun immediately after his canonization in 1228, and completed in 1253...
for a fresco
Fresco
Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...
of the "Resurrection of Christ" and the "Dying Saint Clare is visited by the pope" in the vault of chapel of San Massimo in the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli
Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli
The Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli is a church situated in the plain at the foot of the hill of Assisi, Italy, in the frazione of Santa Maria degli Angeli....
.
Salimbeni got in 1603 the commission to paint frescoes with scenes from the church's patron saints in the church of Quirico and Giulitta, one of the oldest churches in Siena. As in the church of Santa Trinità, he worked here alongside with the painter Alessandro Casolari.
This was a period on non-stop new assignments : three paintings for the church San Lorenzo in San Pietro in Montalcino
Montalcino
Montalcino is a hilltown and comune in Tuscany, Italy. It is famous for its Brunello di Montalcino wine.The town is located to the west of Pienza, close to the Crete Senesi in Val d'Orcia. It is 42 km from Siena, 110 km from Florence and 150 km from Pisa...
, the "Donation of the Keys" (1599), the "Disputa of the Eucharist" (1600) and the "Crucifixion" (1604).
At the same time he was painting the "Vision of Gregory the great" and the "Punishment of David" in the Basilica of San Pietro in Perugia
Perugia
Perugia is the capital city of the region of Umbria in central Italy, near the River Tiber, and the capital of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area....
. The papal legate, cardinal Bonifazio Bevilacqua (1571-1627), who had commissioned these paintings, was so pleased that he invested Ventura Salimbeni with the Order of the Golden Spur, a very selective papal order. He was even authorized from now on to name himself Cavalieri Bevilacqua. He painted the canvas of the Ascension of the Virgin (1607) for San Frediano in Pisa
Pisa
Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...
.
In 1612 he painted the "Life of Saint Galganus" for the Chiesa del Santuccio in Siena with the hermit saint set in a wooded landscape.
His last work of art was the oil painting the "Marriage of the Virgin
Marriage of the Virgin
The Marriage of the Virgin is the subject in Christian art depicting the marriage of the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. The marriage is not mentioned in the canonical Gospels but is covered in several apocryphal sources, and later redactions, notably the 14th century compilation the Golden Legend...
" for the Seminario diocesano in Foligno
Foligno
Foligno is an ancient town of Italy in the province of Perugia in east central Umbria, on the Topino river where it leaves the Apennines and enters the wide plain of the Clitunno river system...
in 1613.
He was influenced by Federico Barocci
Federico Barocci
Federico Barocci was an Italian Renaissance painter and printmaker. His original name was Federico Fiori, and he was nicknamed Il Baroccio, which still in northwestern Italian dialects means a two wheel cart drawn by oxen...
, Domenico Beccafumi and by the rich and harmonious palette of Lodovico Cigoli
Cigoli
Lodovico Cardi , also known as Cigoli, was an Italian painter and architect of the late Mannerist and early Baroque period, trained and active in his early career in Florence, and spending the last nine years of his life in Rome.Lodovico Cardi was born at Villa Castelvecchio di Cigoli, in Tuscany,...
. Among his pupils was Alessandro Casolani.
In the period between 1589 and 1594 he also made in Rome some etching
Etching
Etching is the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio in the metal...
s, of which seven survive. They are among the finest Italian prints of the period. The earliest dated, and the largest, is the Baptism of Christ of 1589, which he produced in collaboration with the more experienced Ambrogio Brambilla.
Anthology of works
- St. Agnes (1590, etching, De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA)http://search.famsf.org:8080/view.shtml?keywords=%53%61%6C%69%6D%62%65%6E%69&artist=&country=&period=&sort=&start=1&position=6&record=303853
- The Annunciation (1594, drawing, De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA)http://search.famsf.org:8080/view.shtml?keywords=%53%61%6C%69%6D%62%65%6E%69&artist=&country=&period=&sort=&start=1&position=7&record=59480
- Marriage of the Virgin (1590 De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA)http://search.famsf.org:8080/view.shtml?keywords=%53%61%6C%69%6D%62%65%6E%69&artist=&country=&period=&sort=&start=1&position=8&record=59479
- Two Studies of a Female (De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA)http://search.famsf.org:8080/view.shtml?keywords=%53%61%6C%69%6D%62%65%6E%69&artist=&country=&period=&sort=&start=1&position=9&record=58370
- Figure Studies of a Man and a Seated Woman (De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA)http://search.famsf.org:8080/view.shtml?keywords=%53%61%6C%69%6D%62%65%6E%69&artist=&country=&period=&sort=&start=11&position=11&record=58067
- Studies of a Male Figure with a Sword (De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA)http://search.famsf.org:8080/view.shtml?keywords=%53%61%6C%69%6D%62%65%6E%69&artist=&country=&period=&sort=&start=11&position=12&record=58066
- Madonna and Child (De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA)http://search.famsf.org:8080/view.shtml?keywords=%53%61%6C%69%6D%62%65%6E%69&artist=&country=&period=&sort=&start=11&position=13&record=56464
- Figure Studies of a Man and a Standing Woman (De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA)http://search.famsf.org:8080/view.shtml?keywords=%53%61%6C%69%6D%62%65%6E%69&artist=&country=&period=&sort=&start=11&position=18&record=58068
- Joachim and Anna (1590, etching, De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA)http://search.famsf.org:8080/view.shtml?record=56462&=list&=1&=&=And
- The Annunciation (Museum of Fine Arts,Budapest)http://gallery.euroweb.hu/html/s/salimben/annuncia.html
- Death of St Claire with Pope Innocent IV's blessing, drawing Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/opacdirect/7834.html
- Christ on the Cross with Virgin, Magdalen, & Saint John (Courtauld Institute of Art, London)
- Two studies of the head of a woman, and sketch of a foot (Courtauld Institute of Art, London)
- Youth kneeling holding a vase (Courtauld Institute of Art, London) http://www.artandarchitecture.org.uk/search/results.html?_creators=ULAN13893&display=Salimbeni%2c+Ventura
- Marriage of the Virgin (Diocesan Seminary Foligno) http://www.umbrarte.com/list/160701.htm
- The Virgin and Child in Glory, (1590 Grand Rapids Museum of Art, Michigan)
- Trinity with St.Peter and St. Bernard, (Musée Fesch, Ajaccio, France)
- Study for an Altarpiece (drawing, Fogg Art Museum, Boston, MA)
- Saint Caterina acceca con lo sguardo and Florentine Soldiers (Haarlem, Teylers Museum) http://www.etciu.com/MUSEO/M_HTML/DISEGNO/SALIMBENI1.html
- Saint Lorenzo and Saint Charles Borromeo Pray to the Name of Jesus(1620, San Lorenzo)http://www.gol.grosseto.it/priv/curia/beniculturali/cattedralecd/cattedrale/pittura/slor_scarloborr.html
- Frescoes of Christ’ Resurrection (Bagno Vignoni)
- Depiction of Ventura Salimbeni (Bernardino Capitelli, 1634)
- Fresco of the Trinity at work with globe (Montalcino)
- Resurrection of Christ in the Chapel of the removal of the Lord in the Basilica of Santa Maria degli AngeliBasilica of Santa Maria degli AngeliThe Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli is a church situated in the plain at the foot of the hill of Assisi, Italy, in the frazione of Santa Maria degli Angeli....
in Assisi, Italy.