SCHIAVONE, Giorgio - b. ~1436 Scardone, d. 1504 Sebenico

Italian painter of Dalmatian origin (Giorgio Culinoviç). He was the best follower of the style of Francesco Squarcione with whom he studied from 1456 in Padua where he had contacts with the sculptors who followed Donatello. Among his main works, all datable around 1460 when he was in Dalmatia, are the polyptych with Madonna, Child and Saints (National Gallery, London) signed as a disciple of Squarcione, Madonna and Child Enthroned (Staatliche Museen, Berlin), Madonna and Child (Galleria Sabauda, Turin), Madonna and Child (Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore), and Portrait of a Man (Muséee Jacquemart-André, Paris).

Virgin and Child Enthroned

This painting was originally the central section of a triptych. The wings of this altar (now in Padua’s cathedral) show four Franciscan saints. Schiavone’s signature appears on a little piece of paper (a cartellino) lower right. The putti flanking the throne are Donatellesque, reminiscent of those sculpted for the Santo’s High Altar.