Florentine painter, original name Francesco Ubertini. He was probably a pupil of Perugino but with an eclectic style most heavily influenced by Andrea del Sarto. He painted religious subjects and decorative panels for walls and furniture, and designed tapestries.
This painting was executed by Bacchiacca in his early period when he was under the influence of his teacher Perugino. In his Baptism of Christ Bacchiacca followed Perugino’s model.
This representation of Baptism is a fine example from Bacchiacca’s early maturity. Though still influenced at this time by Perugino, his master, this painting demonstrates the increasing individuality of the young Florentine, particularly in its use of colour which lends the overall effect a freshness that to the contemporary spectator must have seemed overtly modern.
Perugino’s docile style deeply affected less talented painters like Bacchiacca (who had probably been a Perugino pupil). It is apparent in this late work by Bacchiacca.
Bachiacca belongs to that group of minor artists, of popular temperament and background, part-craftsmen, part-artists, free bizarre spirits in the best Florentine tradition, who in the full flowering of the sixteenth century somehow succeeded in prolonging the naturalistic tradition of Tuscan art.
This work, however youthful, shows the interest which the artist nurtured for the painting of landscape. The whole composition - besides being balanced and almost symmetrically divided by the ladders, the crosses and the group of figures - is in fact set in a rural landscape which serves not only as a background to the scene, but is the natural continuation and development of the grassy terrain in the foreground.
The painting is based on an engraving by the Bolognese Marcantonio Raimondi. The engraving itself is a copy of the Madonna del divino amore (Museo del Capodimonte, Naples) executed in Raphael’s workshop by Giovanni Francesco Penni.
This manuscript, containing the genealogy of the Medici family, was compiled by Pier Cattaci for Pope Leo X (Giovanni de’ Medici, son of Lorenzo il Magnifico). It is probable that the manuscript was given to the Pope on the occasion the marriage of Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino to Madeleine de la Tour d’Auvergne in 1518.
Although the illumination of the codex is of mediocre quality, the decoration of the first page (folio 1) is of high quality. It is occupied by a true painting, showing Sts Cosmas and Damian, the patron saints of the Medici family. The painting is attributed to Bacchiacca, who was particularly talented in executing works in small dimensions. This painting can be dated to c. 1524, after the death of Leo X.
This painting belongs to a series of six Scenes from the Story of Joseph painted by Bachiacca for the wedding chamber of the Florentine Pier Francesco Borgherini, who married Maddalena Acciaiuoli in 1515. Four of the six panels are in the Galleria Borghese, while the other two (Joseph Makes Himself Known to His Brethren and The Second Visit of His Brethren to Egypt) are in the National Gallery in London. Other painters (Andrea del Sarto, Francesco Granacci and Pontormo) also contributed to this commission with works devoted to the same figure from the Old Testament. The pictures were used to decorate the furniture of the chamber.
Stylistically, the influence of Northern European painting and engraving (in particular Altdorfer and Lucas van Leyden), is evident in the strong chiaroscuro of the figures, the styles of their dress and the landscape.
The scenes from the story of Joseph, son of Jacob, were popular subjects in religious painting, partly because the patriarch was considered a prefiguration of Christ. Despite the presence of the same figures, recognizable by their features and the clothes they are wearing, the identification of the episodes from the Bible story, often combined in a single panel, is controversial.
This painting belongs to a series of six Scenes from the Story of Joseph painted by Bachiacca for the wedding chamber of the Florentine Pier Francesco Borgherini, who married Maddalena Acciaiuoli in 1515. Four of the six panels are in the Galleria Borghese, while the other two (Joseph Makes Himself Known to His Brethren and The Second Visit of His Brethren to Egypt) are in the National Gallery in London.
This painting belongs to a series of six Scenes from the Story of Joseph painted by Bachiacca for the wedding chamber of the Florentine Pier Francesco Borgherini, who married Maddalena Acciaiuoli in 1515. Four of the six panels are in the Galleria Borghese, while the other two (Joseph Makes Himself Known to His Brethren and The Second Visit of His Brethren to Egypt) are in the National Gallery in London.
This painting belongs to a series of six Scenes from the Story of Joseph painted by Bachiacca for the wedding chamber of the Florentine Pier Francesco Borgherini, who married Maddalena Acciaiuoli in 1515. Four of the six panels are in the Galleria Borghese, while the other two (Joseph Makes Himself Known to His Brethren and The Second Visit of His Brethren to Egypt) are in the National Gallery in London.
This painting of the eclectic artist shows the strong influence of Perugino. The work was restored in 1955-60.
This casual small picture of a woman holding a cat shows the Renaissance fondness for exotic pets; women were also depicted with squirrels and rabbits close to hand.
