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Biography of OrcagnaName: OrcagnaBirth Date: c. 1308 Death Date: c. 1368 Place of Birth: N/A Nationality: Italian Gender: Male Occupations: artist, painter, sculptor, architect Orcagna Orcagna (ca. 1308-ca. 1368) was an Italian painter, sculptor, and architect whose work greatly influenced Florentine and Tuscan art during the late 14th century.Nothing is known of the early years of Andrea di Cione, called Orcagna. According to a document of June 1368, he fell ill and presumably died later that year. Giorgio Vasari reported that Orcagna was 60 years old at the time of his death; hence, he was born about 1308. In 1343/1344 his name first appeared on the register of the Florentine painters' guild (Arte dei Medici e Speziali) and in 1352 on the register of the stone workers' guild (Arte dei Maestri della Pietra). After 1352 Orcagna was mentioned in numerous documents relating to a number of projects in Florence, including the Strozzi Altarpiece in S. Maria Novella and the marble tabernacle in Orsanmichele. He was capomastro of the Cathedral in Orvieto (1359-1362), where he executed the mosaic decorations for the facade.The …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…painted figures on the Strozzi Altarpiece.At the time of his death Orcagna was working on the St. Matthew Altarpiece (Uffizi, Florence) with his brother Jacopo di Cione, who finished the project. Some fragments of frescoes have been attributed to Orcagna, though they are probably by assistants. These include the Triumph of Death, the Last Judgment, and Hell in Sta Croce (ca. 1348), the Last Supper and the Crucifixion in the refectory of Sto Spirito, and some half-length figures of prophets in the choir of S. Maria Novella. Further Reading A valuable discussion of late-14th-century Florentine painting, including an especially good analysis of Orcagna's Strozzi Altarpiece, is in Millard Meiss, Painting in Florence and Siena after the Black Death (1951). Evelyn Sandburg-Vavalà includes most of Orcagna's paintings in her books Uffizi Studies (1948) and Studies in the Florentine Churches (1959). For Orcagna's work as a sculptor see John Pope-Hennessy, Italian Gothic Sculpture (1955). |