Portraitist, born in Albino, N Italy. His work was almost always confined to portraiture, making him unique among the artists of the Italian Renaissance. His well-known work in oils, The Tailor, is in the National Gallery, London.
Giovanni Battista Moroni (Born c1520 – February 5, 1578) was an Italian mannerist painter, son of an architect, Andrea Moroni, born in Albino near Bergamo.
Moroni was one of the great, albeit shy, portrait painters of the sixteenth century. On both occasions Moroni painted a number of works (including the Altarpiece of the Doctors of the Church for the church of Santa Maria Maggiore).
It was during his stay in Trento that he also made contact with Titian and the Madruzzo family. From the 1550s onwards, in fact, Moroni was often commissioned for portraits as a cheaper alternative to the busy Titian. This resulted in abundant patronage for portraits. His output was a series of portraits that, while not quite heroic, are full of dignified humanity and grounded in everyday life.
His output of religious paintings was smaller; Moroni was engaged upon a Last Judgment in the church of Corlago, when he died.
Freedberg notes that while his his religious canvases are "archaic" and show stilted unemotive saints, his portraits are remarkable for their sophisticated psychological insight, dignified air, and exquisite silvery tonality. In portraits, though, his patrons were interested in the animated depiction.
The National Gallery (London) has one of the best collections of his work, including the celebrated portrait known as "Il Sarto" (The Tailor) (a member of the Fenaroli family). Other portraits are found in the Uffizi, (the Nobleman pointing to Flame inscribed "Et quid volo nisi ut ardeat?", Berlin Gallery,the Canon Ludovico de' Terzi and Moroni's own portrait; and in Stafford House, the seated half-figure of the Jesuit Ercole Tasso, currently termed "Titian's Schoolmaster" (no real connection).
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