Orcagna

Statue of Andrea Orcagna in the Uffizi outside gallery in Florence carved by Niccolò Bazzanti at Pietro Bazzanti e Figlio Art Gallery, Florence

Andrea di Cione di Arcangelo (c. 1308 – August 25, 1368), better known as Orcagna, was an Italian painter, sculptor, and architect active in Florence. He worked as a consultant at the Florence Cathedral and supervised the construction of the facade at the Orvieto Cathedral.^[1] His Strozzi Altarpiece (1354–57) is noted as defining a new role for Christ as a source of Catholic doctrine and papal authority.^[2]

Works[]

Orcagna's works include:

• "Altarpiece of the Redeemer" (1354–57) in the Strozzi di Mantova Chapel at Santa Maria Novella, Florence
• The tabernacle in Orsanmichele (finished 1359) which was regarded as "the most perfect work of its kind in Italian Gothic".^[3]
• His fresco The Triumph of Death inspired Franz Liszt's masterwork Totentanz.
• His fresco Crucifixion with a multitude of angels surrounding the cross, portrayed on a dark background and a few fragments of the Last Supper (1365).^[4]

The mosaic decoration and the rose window of the cathedral of Orvieto is attributed to Orcagna, who had become Master of the Works in 1359.

Pupils[]

Among Orcagna's pupils and legacy were:

• , a Pisan painter of the 14th century, who also worked for the Campo Santo. Nello di Vanni is conjectured to be identical with Bernardo Nello or Giovanni Falcone.^[5]
• Tommaso del Mazza, called Tomasso di Marco by Giorgio Vasari^[6]
• Jacopo di Cione, brother of Andrea and mainly sculptor and architect^[7]

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Andrea Orcagna.

• Middleton, John Henry (1911). "Orcagna" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. 20 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 165–167.