Francesco FranciaBentivolio coin by Francesco Francia.
Francesco Francia, whose real name was Francesco Raibolini (1447 – 5 January 1517) was an Italian painter, goldsmith, and medallist from Bologna, who was also director of the city mint.[1][2]
He may have trained with Marco Zoppo and was first mentioned as a painter in 1486. His earliest known work is the Felicini Madonna, which is signed and dated 1494. He worked in partnership with Lorenzo Costa, and was influenced by Ercole de' Roberti's and Costa's style. After 1505 he was influenced more by Perugino and Raphael. He had a large workshop and trained Marcantonio Raimondi, Ludovico Marmitta,[3] and several other artists; he produced niellos, in which Raimondi first learnt to engrave, soon excelling his master, according to Vasari. Raphael's Santa Cecilia is supposed to have produced such a feeling of inferiority in Francia that it caused him to die of depression. However, as his friendship with Raphael is now well-known, this story has been discredited.
Madonna and Child with two Angels, c. 1495, 64 cm x 49 cm, oil on wood, Alte Pinakothek, Munich
Pala Calcina, 1500, 193 cm x 151 cm, tempera and oil on canvas (formerly wood), Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg
Crucifixion c. 1485, Bologna
The Holy Family c. 1485, Berlin
Madonna with Angel 1495-1500, Pittsburg
Bartolomeo Biachini 1485-1500, London
Madonna with Angels c. 1495, Munich
Years 1500-10
Madonna and Child, c. 1500, 67 cm x 52 cm, oil on wood, Wallington National Trust, Northumberland
Madonna and Child with Saints Francis and Jerome,[5] 1500–10, 75 cm x 57 cm, tempera on wood, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The Annunciation with St. Albert the Carmelite, c. 1503–04, 182 cm x 132 cm, oil on canvas (formerly wood), Musée Condé, Chantilly
Adoration of the Child, 1500–05, 175 cm x 132 cm, oil on wood, Alte Pinakothek, Munich
Evangelista Scappi, 1500–05, 55 cm x 44 cm, oil on wood, Uffizi, Florence
Bishop Altobello Averoldo,[6] c. 1505, 54 cm x 41 cm, oil on wood, National Gallery of Art, Washington
Crucifixion, c. 1505, 246 cm x 146 cm, oil on wood, San Giacomo Maggiore, Bologna
The life of Saint Cecilia and her husband Valerian - scene 1 (The Marriage) & 10 (The Burial), 1504–1506, 360 cm x 290 cm, frescoes, Oratorio di Santa Cecilia, Bologna
The Holy Family, c. 1510, 64 cm x 49 cm, oil on wood, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest
Federico Gonzaga (son of Isabella d'Este),[7] 1510, 45 cm x 34 cm, oil on wood transferred to canvas and finally again on wood, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Portrait likely Isabella d'Este, 1511, 44 cm x 35 cm, oil on wood, Vienna
Pala Buonvisi,[8] 1510–12, 195 cm x 180 cm, oil on wood, National Gallery, London
Virgin and the Child and the Infant St. John the Baptist,[10] 1510–15, 65 cm x 51 cm, oil on wood, São Paulo Museum of Art
Virgin and the Child and the Infant St. John the Baptist (Francesco Francia and sons),[11] c. 1515, 115 cm x 94 cm, oil on wood, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
^Mrs Jameson (December 29, 1866). "Lives of the Early Painters: Francesco Raibolini, Called Il Francia". The American Art Journal. 6 (10): 152–153. JSTOR 25306713.
^Dizionario biografico dei Parmigiani illustri o benemeriti nelle scienze, nelle lettere, e nelle arti, by Giovanni Battista Janelli, Genoa, 1877, page 241.
Giorgio Vasari: Le vite dei più eccellenti architetti, pittori et scultori italiani, Florence 1568
George C. Williamson: Francesco Raibolini, called Francia, London 1901
Giuseppe Piazzi: Le Opere di Francesco Raibolini, detto il Francia, orefice e pittore. Azzoguidi, Bologna 1925
Emilio Negro, Nicosetta Roio: Francesco Francia e la sua scuola. Artioli Editore, Modena 1998, ISBN 8877920572
Hickson, Sally (2009). "'To see ourselves as others see us': Giovanni Francesco Zaninello of Ferrara and the portrait of Isabella d'Este by Francesco Francia" (PDF). Renaissance Studies. 23 (3): 288–310. doi:10.1111/j.1477-4658.2009.00565.x. ISSN 0269-1213.[dead link]
Gillet, Louis (1909). "Francia" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Further reading
Pope-Hennessy, John; Kanter, Laurence B. (1987). The Robert Lehman Collection I, Italian Paintings. New York, Princeton: The Metropolitan Museum of Art in association with Princeton University Press. ISBN 0870994794. (see index; plate 91)
External links
Media related to Francesco Francia at Wikimedia Commons