Lorenzo di Niccolò

Lorenzo di Niccolò, The Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence, 1412, Tempera and tooled gold on poplar panel, 12 7/8 x 14 3/16 in. (32.7 x 36 cm), Brooklyn MuseumLorenzo di Niccolò or Lorenzo di Niccolò di Martino was an Italian painter who was active in Florence from 1391 to 1412. This early Renaissance artist worked in the Trecento style, and his work maintains influences of the Gothic style, marking a transitional period between the Gothic sensibilities of the Middle Ages while simultaneously beginning to draw on the Classical. Lorenzo's works were usually religious scenes in tempera with gold backgrounds.

Education and personal life The exact year of Lorenzo's birth is unknown, but should be approximately 1374, for the first recorded date of his existence is in 1392 when it is documented that Lorenzo and his mentor, Niccolò di Pietro Gerini, painted frescoes in the church of San Francesco at Pisa. Lorenzo is often erroneously cited as the son of Niccolò di Pietro Gerini because he completed some works with the painter, and Lorenzo's work is stylistically similar to Gerini's. It is more likely that Lorenzo was simply trained in Gerini's workshop; therefore, many of Lorenzo's early works share similarities with the work of Gerini. Lorenzo's education was limited, as it is thought that he trained under Gerini in a bottega, and in a way that was not conducive to learning the highest levels of painting. Gerini's work focused more on managing many artists on large projects than on working as a skilled painter. Furthermore, two salvers at the Metropolitan Museum of Art were attributed to the Studio of Lorenzo di Niccolò by art historians Elizabeth Gardner and Federico Zeri. It has been proposed that the subject of these salvers is a story from Boccaccio's Comedia delle Ninfe Fiorentine. The last dated work that is attributed to Lorenzo is Virgin and Child with Saints, a polyptych in Saint Lorenzo a Collina at Mezzomonte from 1412.

Major works S. Bartholomew Enthroned and four Scenes from his Legend (Palazzo Communal, San Gimignano) S. Giovanni Gualberto and his Enemy Before the Crucifix in S. Miniato (Worcester, Mass.) Altarpiece of Saint Felicità, Coronation of the Virgin Saint Bartholomew Enthroned, with Scenes from his Life, 1402 (San Marco, Venice) Virgin and Child with Saints, 1412 (Saint Lorenzo a Collina at Mezzomonte) Virgin and Child with Saints,, triptych (San Leonardo in Arcetri, Florence) Altarwing, S. Niccolò and S. Giovanni Gualberto Madonna Seated on Clouds; Four Saints Standing Below (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) Madonna Seated on a Cushion (Christ Church Library, Oxford) Small Madonna (Museo Civico, Pisa) S. John the Baptist, S. James and S. Anthony, right wing of a triptych (Museo Civico, Pisa) Madonna between S. Nicholas and S. Laurence, 1402 (San Martino, Terenzano) Madonna and Child Enthroned with Sts. Christopher, Blaise, Sebastian, and Francis, 1410-1412 (St. Louis Museum of Art) The Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence, 1412 (Brooklyn Museum, New York)