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SERAFINI, Serafino - b. ~1324 Modena, d. ~1393 Ferrara - WGA

SERAFINI, Serafino

(b. ~1324 Modena, d. ~1393 Ferrara)

Italian painter. He was born into a Modenese family of brick and terracotta manufacturers. Although associated with the brother of the artist Tommaso da Modena as early as 1346, he appears to have been involved with terracotta manufacture in the 1350s, a medium already associated with relief sculpture in Emilia. By 1361 he had moved to Ferrara, ruled, like Modena, by the Este family. By 1375 he was working at their court in Ferrara, whence he was summoned to work for the Gonzaga family in Mantua. For them he painted most of the frescoes of the Life of St Louis of Toulouse and the Passion (San Francesco, Mantua), although they were probably designed by Tommaso. The expressively characterized faces and plasticity of the figures clearly show Tommaso’s inspiration, and the influence of the illuminator Niccolò di Giacomo da Bologna can also be seen.

Death of St Louis
Death of St Louis by

Death of St Louis

In Mantua, the Gonzaga family marked their rapid ascent to prominence by commissioning in the church of San Francesco a large funerary chapel. The church was largely destroyed during World War II but fortunately the Gonzaga chapel survived.

The Gonzaga chapel is the largest of the church’s noble chapels, occupying the most prestigious location close to the apse. Here the bodies of princes and their consorts reposed in marble tombs - now largely removed - among brilliantly coloured frescoes that covered the chapel’s vault and walls. Although only partially preserved, these paintings still give an idea of the extravagant visions of both patron and painter in realizing this commission. The artist, who illustrated scenes from the lives of Christ and St Louis of Toulouse, was the Modenese painter Serafino Serafini, a pupil of the more famous Tommaso da Modena.

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St Louis of Toulouse Ordained Bishop by Pope Boniface VIII
St Louis of Toulouse Ordained Bishop by Pope Boniface VIII by

St Louis of Toulouse Ordained Bishop by Pope Boniface VIII

In Mantua, the Gonzaga family marked their rapid ascent to prominence by commissioning in the church of San Francesco a large funerary chapel. The church was largely destroyed during World War II but fortunately the Gonzaga chapel survived.

The Gonzaga chapel is the largest of the church’s noble chapels, occupying the most prestigious location close to the apse. Here the bodies of princes and their consorts reposed in marble tombs - now largely removed - among brilliantly coloured frescoes that covered the chapel’s vault and walls. Although only partially preserved, these paintings still give an idea of the extravagant visions of both patron and painter in realizing this commission. The artist, who illustrated scenes from the lives of Christ and St Louis of Toulouse, was the Modenese painter Serafino Serafini, a pupil of the more famous Tommaso da Modena.

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