(From the predella of the Quaratesi triptych from San Nicc...)
From the predella of the Quaratesi triptych from San Niccolo, Florence
Gentile da Fabriano was born approximately in 1370 in Fabriano, Italy. His mother died some time before 1380, and his father, Niccolò di Giovanni Massi, who was a scholar, mathematician and astrologer, retired to a monastery the same year, where he died in 1385. Also, Gentile had a brother, Ludovico da Fabriano, who was a monk.
Gentile's art indicates, that he was probably trained in Lombardy or in Milan.
Gentile worked in the International Gothic style, to which he brought his own personal quality. His earliest works display the decorative rhythmic drapery patterns, preferred by the International Gothic masters, which Gentile tempered and ultimately abandoned after his contact with Florentine art.
Around 1405, the painter worked in Venice, where he painted an altarpiece for Francesco Amadi. His commission in 1409 for frescoes for the Doge's Palace in Venice was the testifying to his high reputation. Gentile also produced works for other cities during this period, including his "Madonna and Child" for a church in Perugia.
During the period from 1410 to 1411, Gentile was in Foligno, where he created frescoes for Palazzo Trinci. In 1414, Fabriano moved to Brescia, where he painted the Broletto Chapel. On August 6, 1420, Gentile moved to Florence. There, in 1423, he created one of his major works, entitled "Adoration of the Magi". In remarkably good condition, with its original frame still intact, it shows Gentile's Gothicism now tempered by his contact with the more austere art of Florence. The rich display of gold leaf and brilliant colors were favorite International Gothic traits, but in the interest in perspective and foreshortening and especially in the exquisite predella panels, Gentile shows the influence of the Florentines.
In 1425, the painter was in Siena, where he painted another work, namely "Madonna with Child", for the Palazzo dei Notai. The altarpiece for the Quaratesi family, which Gentile painted the same year, also demonstrates the composite quality of Gentile's art. The fresco "Madonna Enthroned" of late 1425 has few traces of the International Gothic style and displays a corporeality and fullness in keeping with his evolution after Florence.
Fabriano's last works, the frescoes for Archbasilica of St. John Lateran in Rome, depicting the life of John the Baptist and grisaille portraits of saints, were destroyed in 1647, when Francesco Borromini reconstructed the interior.
St. Nicholas and the Three Gold Balls
(From the predella of the Quaratesi triptych from San Nicc...)
St. Agnes (wing of a diptych)
Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria
Madonna with St. Julian and St. Laurenzius
St. Francis
Polyptych of Valle Romita
Madonna with Child and St. Catherine, St. Nicolas and Donor Gentile da Fabriano
Madonna with Angels
Adoration of the Magi Altarpiece, left hand predella panel depicting the Nativity
Adoration of the Magi (altarpiece)
Astronomy
The Annunciation
Scipio Africanus
The Bishop (Saint)
Stoning of St. Stephen
Mary Enthroned with the Child, Saints and a Donor
Quaratesi Altarpiece, Pilgrims at the Tomb of St. Nicholas of Bari
St. James the Greate and St. Peter
Madonna and Child with Angels
Loggia (the Founding of Rome)
Enthroned Madonna with angels
Quaratesi Altarpiece, St. Nicholas saves a storm tossed ship
Music, Playing the Organ
Madonna with Child Gentile da Fabriano
Loggia (the Founding of Rome)
Madonna
Madonna
Madonna in Gloria between Saint Francis and Santa Chiara Gentile da Fabriano
Two saints from the Quaratesi Polyptych: St. Mary Magdalen and St. Nicholas
Philosophy and Grammar
Loggia (the Founding of Rome)
The Flight into Egypt
Grammar
Madonna and Child
Quaratesi Altarpiece, Virgin and Child
Madonna With Two Angels
Nativity
