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Vitale da Bologna

Medieval Master of Madonnas

Coronation of the Virgin, by Vitale da Bologna

Vitale da Bologna, or Vitale d’Aimò de’ Cavalli, (c. 1309–1361) was the star painter of the Bolognese trecento. His delicate, decorative art was influenced by the International Gothic of Siena, but he was also capable of startling spatial orientation and drama, as in the St George Killing the Dragon and Sant' Antonio Abate altarpiece in the Pinacoteca Nazionale. Yet amid the all the gilt, his Madonnas stand out: no one at the time portrayed the young Virgin Mary with such tender, vulnerable sweetness, and pre-Botticelli wistful expressions.

Other works in San Martino, Santa Maria dei Servi, Galleria Davia-Bargellini (the famous Maddona dei Denti) and San Salvatore.

Artists

Medieval Art and Architecture

Text © Dana Facaros & Michael Pauls

Image by PD Art