Florentine artist, registered as a painter in 1387. He was a pupil of Antonio Veneziano, and Masolino is considered to be his pupil. He was documented in Valencia and Toledo between 1395 and 1401. He was active in Florence after his return from Spain.
Between 1380 and 1450 the international Gothic style spread throughout Europe. Also known as the “art courtois”, it is characterized by a taste for description of court life, Gothic arabesques and ornemental refinement. The Angel and the Virgin of the Annunciation of Gherardo Starnina, are fine examples of this tendency.
This is a fragment which originally formed part of a polyptych consisting of a corpus with two wings. Judging from the angle at which the saint at right is standing, it probably served as the right wing, as the saint seems to be turning to the central scene of the corpus. Formerly the painting was attributed to the Master of the Bambino Vispo.
The two saints are standing on a golden carpet or gold brocade, achieved by sgraffito technique, and against a gilded background. The bishop saint, identified as St Hugh of Lincoln (1135-1200), one of the first Carthusian saints, is dressed in pontificals and a mitre, holding a crozier in his left hand and raising his right hand in a blessing gesture. He is wearing a white Carthusian cloak and a mantle made of ultramarine blue with a pattern of golden crosses and a green border with plant ornamentation punched into the surface of the painting, which gives the dress a plastic texture.
The saint to the right is one of the most important saints for the entire monastic community, St Benedict of Nursia (480-543) is holding a book in his left hand and a birch rod in his right, common attributes in other depictions of this saint.
This well-preserved panel representing St Vincent formed part of a larger, dismembered altarpiece.
The painting was attributed for long time to various artists, among them to Fra Angelico. Sometimes it is listed as an early work by Fra Angelico. Finally, it was recognised as a work by Gherardo Starnina.
The content of the Thebaid shows that it was executed on the commission of one of the Mendicant Orders. The work depicts the life of a certain saint and the desert life of a large number of hermits, an iconographical theme whose origins are to be found in Pisan art. The painting is occupied entirely by numerous small scenes and by the activities of small figures. The vast landscape is dotted with chapels and tiny dwellings. The foreground is occupied by the sea, with sailing vessels and sea monsters, while the background is composed of the usual stepped rocks, common in all painting of the fourteenth century, which divide the painting up into many compartments.
The picture shows one of the numerous small scenes with the activities of small figures. The vast landscape is dotted with chapels and tiny dwellings.
Thebais, the Roman province of upper Egypt, was home to the first Christian monks, the desert fathers, who lived in these communities of single cells until the persecutions of the fourth century. The rhythmic treatment of the cliffs endows the scene with grandeur, while the individual vignettes rewards close viewing.
Thebais, the Roman province of upper Egypt, was home to the first Christian monks, the desert fathers, who lived in these communities of single cells until the persecutions of the fourth century. The rhythmic treatment of the cliffs endows the scene with grandeur, while the individual vignettes rewards close viewing.
Between 1380 and 1450 the international Gothic style spread throughout Europe. Also known as the “art courtois”, it is characterized by a taste for description of court life, Gothic arabesques and ornemental refinement. The Angel and the Virgin of the Annunciation of Gherardo Starnina, are fine examples of this tendency.
Starnina, who perhaps can be identified with the so-called Master of the Bambino Vispo, is one of the most fascinating and historically significant personalities in Late Gothic painting in Florence.
