Cristoforo Cortese (c. 1399–1445) was a 15th-century Venetian miniaturist, illuminator, and head of the Veneto school of illumination; he was the first major artist in Venice to paint in the late Gothic style.[1][2] Cortese is widely regarded as the most notable and prolific Venetian illuminator of the first half of the fifteenth century.[3][4]

Cristoforo Cortese
Bornc. 1399
Died1445
Leaf depicting Mark the Evangelist and Sebaldus by Cortese

Throughout his career, Cortese produced a number of religious, secular, and classical texts. The only documented work by Cortese, however, is St Francis in Glory, an illuminated choir book depicting the death of St. Francis dating from the late 1420s.[5][6]

Christ Enthroned with David Playing a Psaltery by Cortese

The invention of girari is attributed to Cortese; girari being a method of ornamentation with white garlands.[6]

References edit

  1. ^ "Manuscript Illumination in Italy, 1400–1600". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 2019-01-19.
  2. ^ William M Voelkle; Roger S Wieck; Maria Francesca P Saffiotti (1992). The Bernard H. Breslauer collection of manuscript illuminations : [catalogue of an exhibition held at the Pierpont Morgan Library, December 9, 1992-April 4, 1993]. Pierpont Morgan Library. ISBN 0875980953. OCLC 489571316.
  3. ^ "Saint Mark the Evangelist and Saint Sinibaldus Venerated by Members of a Lay Confraternity". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 2019-01-19.
  4. ^ Palladino, Pia; Art, Cleveland Museum of; Francisco, Fine Arts Museums of San; N.Y.), Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York (2003). Treasures of a Lost Art: Italian Manuscript Painting of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 9781588390301.
  5. ^ Campbell, Erin J. (2009). [Rezension von:] Cohen, Simona: Animals as disguised symbols in Renaissance art. - Leiden : Brill, 2008. OCLC 888916894.
  6. ^ a b Hourihane, Colum (2012). The Grove Encyclopedia of Medieval Art and Architecture, Volume 1. OUP USA. ISBN 978-0195395365.