Background
Cosimo Rosselli was born in Florence, Italy in 1439.
(An important figure in Florentine painting of the second ...)
An important figure in Florentine painting of the second half of the fifteenth century, Cosimo Rosselli (1439-1507?) painted over sixty works including altarpieces, frescos, panels, miniatures and decorative pieces. His masterpiece is in the Cappella Sistina where, in 1481-1482, he worked alongside Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino and Domenico Ghirlandaio. This book is the result of more than ten years of research in museums and collections across the world, and it is the first systematic study of the life and work of Cosimo Rosselli, including over 200 reproductions. The two introductory essays bring into focus his biography, journeys, figurative sources and evolution of style. Equal attention is give to the relationships with his religious and secular patrons, his ties with fellow colleagues, in particular Chimenti, Francesco and Bernardo di Stefano, the work in the studio and his teaching of a new and important generation of Florentine painters that included, amongst others, Piero di Cosimo,
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/8842214116/?tag=2022091-20
(35.00)
35.00
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006E7VHU/?tag=2022091-20
(Book by Blumenthal, Arthur)
Book by Blumenthal, Arthur
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0961582820/?tag=2022091-20
Cosimo Rosselli was born in Florence, Italy in 1439.
At the age of fourteen he became a pupil of Neri di Bicci, and in 1460 he worked as assistant to his cousin Bernardo di Stefano Rosselli.
The first work of Cosimo mentioned by Vasari exists in S. Ambrogio, in Florence, over the third altar on the left. It is an "Assumption of the Virgin, " a youthful and feeble work. In the same church, on the wall of one of the chapels, is a fresco by Cosimo which Vasari praises highly, especially for a portrait of the young scholar Pico of Mirandola. The scene, a procession bearing a miracle-working chalice, is painted with much vigour and less mannerism than most of this artist's work. A picture painted by Rosselli for the church of the Annunziata, with figures of SS. Barbara, Matthew and the Baptist, is in the Academy of Florence. Rosselli also spent some time in Lucca, where he painted several altar-pieces for various churches. A picture attributed to him, taken from the church of S. Girolamo at Fiesole, is now in the National Gallery of London. It is a large retable, with, in the center, St. Jerome in the wilderness kneeling before a crucifix, and at the sides standing figures of St. Damasus and St. Eusebius, St. Paula and St. Eustochium; below is a predella with small subjects. Though dry and hard in treatment, the figures are designed with much dignity.
In 1480, Rosselli was one of the painters called by Pope Sixtus IV to work at the wall decoration of the Sistine Chapel, together with other masters including; Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino and Domenico Ghirlandaio. Rosselli and his collaborators (among them his son-in-law Piero di Cosimo) executed two or three frescoes: the Descent from Mount Sinai, the Last Supper and, perhaps, the Sermon of the Mount. The Passage of the Red Sea is variously attributed to him, to Ghirlandaio or to Biagio d'Antonio. Giorgio Vasari wrote in his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects that, differently from the other painters who followed a common pattern in the size and style of the frescoes, Rosselli used brighter colors, including gold, a trick which granted him the appreciation of the Pope (who, hints Vasari, appeared not to be a deep expert of art).
The Gemäldegalerie, Berlin has three pictures by Rosselli: The Virgin in Glory, The Entombment of Christ and The Massacre of the Innocents. In 1480 Rosselli, together with the chief painters of Florence, was invited by Pope Sixtus IV to Rome to assist in the painting of the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel. Three of these were executed by him The Destruction of Pharaohs Army in the Red Sea, Christ Preaching by the Lake of Tiberias and The Last Supper. His chief pupil was Fra Bartolomeo.
Despite being roughly the same age (slightly older in each case) as Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino and Domenico Ghirlandaio, the other leading Florentine painters, all regarded as greater talents, Rosselli was still able to win several large commissions, which is a testament to the high level of activity in the city.
He painted almost entirely religious subjects, with a few portraits. He did other large frescos with his workship, from which Fra Bartolomeo and Piero di Cosimo, who married Roselli's daughter, were his most famous pupils. These include a chapel in Sant'Ambrogio, Florence and one of the large spaces in the cloister of Santissima Annunziata, Florence.
In 1480, Rosselli was one of the painters called by Pope Sixtus IV to work at the wall decoration of the Sistine Chapel, together with other masters including; Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino and Domenico Ghirlandaio.
(An important figure in Florentine painting of the second ...)
(Book by Blumenthal, Arthur)
(35.00)
