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(b Cologne, 1552; d Prague, March 4, 1615).

German painter and draughtsman, active also in Italy and Bohemia. One of the foremost painters of the circle gathered at the Prague court of Emperor Rudolf II (see Habsburg, House of family, §I, (10)), he synthesized Italian and Netherlandish influences in his portraits and erudite allegories.

Hans’s surname is derived from his father’s native town. According to Karel van Mander, he probably studied c. 1567–73 with the portrait painter Georg Jerrigh, who had trained in Antwerp. Von Aachen subsequently became a member of the Cologne guild of painters. He travelled to Italy c. 1574, first working in Venice as a copyist and for the painter Gaspar Rem (1542–1615/17), before going in 1575 to Rome, where he copied antique sculptures and the works of Italian masters; he also painted an Adoration of the Shepherds for the church of Il Gesù in Rome (1580s; untraced, but known from an engraving (...

[Abbate, Niccolò dell’]

(b Modena, 1509–12; d ?Fontainebleau, 1571).

Italian painter and draughtsman. He was one of the most important artists of the first Fontainebleau school, which was developed at the French court by Rosso Fiorentino and Francesco Primaticcio, and he introduced the Italian Mannerist landscape into France.

He was almost certainly trained by his father, Giovanni dell’Abate (d 1559), a stuccoist, and by the sculptor Antonio Begarelli. Apparently after a period as a soldier, by 1537 he was working in Modena as a painter under Alberto Fontana (fl 1518–58). There the two artists decorated the façade of the Beccherie (Slaughterhouse) from which certain paintings survive (e.g. St Geminian and an allegory of the Wine Harvest; both Modena, Galleria e Museo Estense). His early paintings clearly show the influence of Correggio and of such Ferrarese artists as Dosso Dossi. They also display a love of the picturesque and the pastoral, with frequent variations on the theme of the concert, as in the fragment of a concert scene (Reggio Emilia, Mus. Civ. & Gal. A.) from the façade decorations of the Palazzo Pratonieri in Reggio Emilia. Around ...

Term applied to a drawn or painted representation of the human figure, most commonly made as part of the instruction in an academy or art school. Although the practice of making drawings from nude models had developed during the Renaissance and was commended by such theorists as Alberti, it was only with the foundation of academies of painting in the 17th century that such drawing became formalized as part of a rigorous programme of training. Indeed, by the mid-18th century, the word ‘académie’ was defined in Diderot’s Encyclopédie as ‘a public school where painters go to draw or paint, and sculptors to model, after a nude man called the model’. In France one of the principal means by which the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture asserted its predominance was by maintaining a monopoly on life classes. After the student had mastered the difficulties of copying engravings and plaster casts, he was set to draw from the nude figure under the supervision of the professor. The model was almost invariably male because female models were forbidden at the Académie Royale, and elsewhere they were extremely expensive to hire. Classes lasted two hours, and the pose was usually changed twice a week. The student began by drawing with red chalk on white paper and later progressed to black chalk on tinted papers, applying white chalk for highlights. Such drawing was an exercise in shading, hatching, graining and stumping, and increasingly the results became so homogeneous in style that unsigned examples are almost impossible to attribute. Painted academy figures (...

[Hans von Ulm]

(fl Ulm, 1413–61).

German painter. He belonged to an artist family of which several generations were documented in 15th-century Ulm. According to municipal tax lists, ‘Ackerlin, painter’ was a master by 1413. He received payments from the masons’ lodge of Ulm Cathedral from 1415. In 1441 the cathedral lodge in Berne paid ‘Master Hans of Ulm’ for the production and delivery of stained-glass windows: this Hans is identified with Acker (see also Gothic, §VIII, 5). The Berne Passion window (1441; Berne Cathedral, chancel), his only surviving documented work, demonstrates the capabilities of mid-15th-century German glass painting in dealing with box-shaped hall-church interiors. Its Apostle figures still belong to the tradition of the ‘Soft style’, inspired by Bohemian art, while the style of their robes is reminiscent of those in the chancel windows of Ulm Cathedral. The appearance of a landscape background reveals the influence of the glass paintings (c....

(b Conversano, Puglia, Jan 1458; d Conversano, Jan 9, 1529).

Italian patron. He was the son of Giulio, Duca d’Atri (d 1481), and Caterina Orsini, Contessa di Conversano (Apulia), a cousin of Queen Isabella of Castile; in 1477 he married Isabella Piccolomini of Aragon (d 1504). His extensive territories included much of the Abruzzo and Apulia, and through his second marriage to Caterina della Ratta, Contessa di Caserta, he gained lands in Campania, Lucania and Calabria. Andrea Matteo led a tumultuous political and military career, alternately supporting the Aragonese and the Angevins and losing and regaining his lands several times. From 1505, however, he settled in Naples, devoting himself increasingly to cultural activities. He was one of the most important humanist princes in southern Italy, and a member of Giovanni Pontano’s Neapolitan academy; Pontano (1422–1503) dedicated his De magnanimitate to the Duca, whom he saw as the incarnation of Renaissance man, while Paolo Giovio praised him as ‘...

(b ?Alost; fl 1509–55).

Flemish tapestry-maker. He was the son of Pieter van Edingen Aelst, also a weaver of tapestries, and a member of his father’s workshop in Brussels. In 1509 he was cited as a restorer of Margaret of Austria’s collection of tapestries. In 1517 he was paid for tapestries of David and John the Baptist made for Henry VIII, and in 1547 and 1548 he was still listed as a tapestry maker for the court of Charles V. His mark, pva, has been found on four tapestry series, all made in collaboration with others: on five of eight History of Noah tapestries (Kraków, N.A. Cols), part of a series made by six Brussels workshops for the King of Poland; on seven of ten History of Abraham tapestries, after Bernard van Orley (Vienna, Ksthist. Mus.); on two of eight History of Odysseus tapestries (Hardwick Hall, Derbys, NT); and on three of six ...

[Lange Pier]

(b Amsterdam, 1507/8; d Amsterdam, bur June 3, 1575).

Dutch painter and draughtsman, active also in the southern Netherlands. He probably trained in his native Amsterdam but early on moved to Antwerp, where he enrolled in the Guild of St Luke as a master in 1535. In 1542 he was granted citizenship of the city. Among his pupils in Antwerp were Johannes Stradanus and later Joachim Beuckelaer, a cousin of the artist’s wife and his most loyal follower. The earliest known work by Aertsen is a triptych with the Crucifixion (c. 1545–6; Antwerp, Maagdenhuismus.) for the van den Biest Almshouse in Antwerp. From 1550 Aertsen’s development can be traced through a large number of signed and dated paintings. Religious works, mostly intended for churches, must have formed an important part of Aertsen’s output. His early paintings seem to have been strongly influenced by other Antwerp artists, as can be seen in the van den Biest triptych, where the figures are close to those in Jan Sanders van Hemessen’s background scenes. Van Hemessen’s influence is also strong in the pair of triptychs showing the ...

(b ?Munich, fl 1535; d Munich, 1567).

German sculptor, mason and medallist. In 1536 he became a master sculptor in Munich and shortly afterwards entered the service of Ludwig X, Duke of Bavaria. He moved to Landshut in 1537 to work on the construction of the Italian wing of the ducal Stadtresidenz. In 1555 he travelled to Neuburg an der Donau to oversee the shipment of stone for the palace’s chimneys. He was influenced by and may have assisted Thomas Hering, the sculptor of these chimneys (See under Hering, Loy). Also in 1555 he reverted to Munich citizenship.

The few surviving examples of his sculpture show him to have been an accomplished if somewhat derivative artist. Many seem to have been commissioned by Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria, who paid him an annual salary from 1558 (and perhaps as early as 1551) to 1567. Aesslinger’s limestone reliefs (both 1550) of the Massacre of the Innocents...

(b ?1470–75; d Lisbon, before June 23, 1540).

Portuguese painter. He held a key position in Portuguese art of the first half of the 16th century. He was the brother-in-law of Francisco Henriques, uncle of Cristóvão de Figueiredo and Garcia Fernandes, father-in-law of Gregório Lopes, and friend of the leading painter of Viseu, Vasco Fernandes. In his workshop, painters of the succeeding generation served their apprenticeships and completed their training, interpreting Afonso’s Renaissance ideas in Mannerist style. By 1504 Afonso was living in Lisbon with a workshop close to the Monastery of S Domingos. In 1508 Manuel I appointed him pintor régio (court painter) and examinador de todas as obras de pintura do reino (examiner of all work in painting in the kingdom), appointments that were re-confirmed by John III in 1529. In this capacity he surveyed and evaluated work carried out at Tomar and various churches in Lisbon. Documents refer also to the execution of banners (...

(b Sassoferrato, c. 1470; d Cupramontana, c. 1540).

Italian painter and possible woodcutter. He spent his early years in Sassoferrato, where his family owned a ceramics workshop. Around 1497 he probably visited the Veneto region, since his Virgin and Child with Saints (Padua, Mus. Civ.) painted that year shows the strong influence of painters active there such as Cima da Conegliano. The painting also reflects the Bolognese style of Francesco Francia and that of the Romagnian Marco Palmezzano. In Venice, Agabiti may have made woodcuts after the illustrations for Francesco Colonna’s Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (Venice, 1499). By 1502 he had returned to the Marches, where he executed a painting (untraced) for S Rocco, Jesi, the town where in 1507 he is documented as residing. After 1510 he was again in Sassoferrato, where in 1511 he signed and dated both the Virgin and Child Enthroned with Saints (Sassoferrato, Gal. A. Mod. & Contemp.) and the Nativity in S Maria del Piano. In ...

[Marco Ferreri; Ferrari d’Antonio d’Agrate]

(b Agrate, c. 1504; d Milan, c. 1574).

Italian sculptor. He came from a Lombard family of sculptors, collaborating with his brother Gianfrancesco on a funerary monument to Sforzino Sforza (1524–31) in S Maria della Steccata, Parma. Records show that Marco was in the service of Milan Cathedral from 1522. From 1541 to 1571 he worked for the Opera del Duomo and may have contributed reliefs for the façade of the Certosa di Pavia. This suggests that his style was formed by the classicizing environment of Agostino Busti, Andrea Fusina and Cristoforo Lombardo. In 1547 d’Agrate was contracted to complete the four remaining sarcophagi, with reclining figures above, for the Trivulzio Chapel in S Nazaro Maggiore, Milan. The chapel had been left incomplete by Bramantino and was continued by Lombardo. The austere funerary monument of Giovanni del Conte (Milan, S Lorenzo) dates from 1556 to 1558. The architectural structure is the work of Vincenzo Seregni, but the recumbent effigy of the deceased is by d’Agrate....

(b Saragossa, 1517; d Tarragona, 1586).

Spanish ecclesiastic and antiquarian. He studied law at the University of Alcalá, then received his doctorate in civil law at Salamanca in 1534. In 1536 Agustín entered the Collegio di Spagna in Bologna, where he was exposed to the revolutionary method of the nova jurisprudentia being propounded by Andrea Alciati. Agustín’s reputation as a philologist was established with his critical collation of the Florentine codex of the Digest, published as the Emendationum et opinionum libri (Venice, 1543). In Rome, where he was appointed in 1544 as an Auditor of the Rota, Agustín’s interests turned to numismatics and epigraphy, fostered by his friendship with such antiquarians as Pirro Ligorio, Onofrio Panvinio and Fulvio Orsini. Following a period of diplomatic missions as papal nunciate, Agustín devoted his time to redactions of Varro’s De lingua latina (1557) and the 2nd-century Sextus Pompeius Festus’ De verborum significatu (1559). Between ...

[il Bologna; il Varignana; il Vecchio Bolognese]

(b Varignana, c. 1460–70; d Bologna, May 12, 1539).

Italian sculptor and architect. He was the son of Giovanni da Varignana and is mentioned in a contemporary poem as a pupil of Andrea Sansovino. According to Vasari, after the discovery in 1506 of the Laokoon (1st century ad; Rome, Vatican, Mus. Pio-Clementino), Aimo participated in a contest arranged by Bramante to make the best copy in wax of the ancient marble statue for later casting in bronze. His fellow competitors were Zaccaria Zacchi, Alonso Berruguete and Jacopo Sansovino. Raphael, who had been appointed as judge, decided in favour of Sansovino.

A payment to Aimo of 21 January 1511 documents two sculptures for the lunette of the Porta Magna of S Petronio, Bologna: an archivolt relief depicting a half-length figure of Moses, and a statue of St Ambrose. The latter was commissioned to provide a symmetrical counterpart to Jacopo della Quercia’s St Petronius, which is also in the lunette. St Ambrose’s robe, held together by a clasp, is gathered up to hip level by the right hand; below this is rich drapery with numerous dish-shaped folds. The figure as a whole is stockier than della Quercia’s and stands upright in contrast to the Gothic swing of ...

(fl 1882–97).

Spanish architect. His work is representative of the eclecticism of late 19th-century Spanish architecture, which is especially marked by classical values. His idiom was derived from Mannerist architecture and has a strong Baroque element. The influence of French art is also evident, especially the ostentatious style of Charles Garnier. Aladrén y Mendívil’s early works are more restrained in style and show a mastery of plan and façade design. This is apparent in the Diputación de Guipúzcoa (1885), San Sebastián, which he executed in collaboration with Adolfo Morales de los Ríos. With this same architect he designed his most renowned work, the Casino (now Ayuntamiento; 1882–7) at San Sebastián, which was promoted by the city council to take advantage of wealthy visitors, as San Sebastián was the court summer residence. The upper part of the building was set aside for gaming and the lower for relaxation and recreation, with banqueting-rooms, a café and restaurant. It is French in style and incorporates medieval, Renaissance and Baroque influences, combining these with the use of iron technology. These official works recommended him to industrial magnates in the Basque region, who made important commissions. These he executed with an academic respect for symmetry and following French models, as in the elegant country house (...

[Alladio, Gian Giacomo d’]

(b Alba; fl 1495–1515; d before 1528).

Italian painter. Inscriptions on his altarpieces indicate he was born in Alba. He probably trained elsewhere; his early works, with the exception of the portrait of Andrea Novelli, Bishop of Alba (Isola Bella, Mus. Borromeo), cannot be traced to a precise location. His patrons were mainly from the Paleologo court at Casale Monferrato, where he was the official painter. His earliest signed and dated work is the triptych of the Virgin Enthroned between SS John the Evangelist, James the Greater, John the Baptist and Thomas Aquinas and Two Donors (1495; Turin, Mus. Civ. A. Ant.), and it and the Virgin and Child between SS Nicholas and Martin (Rome, Pin. Capitolina) show the influence of Lombard painters, particularly Ambrogio Bergognone; some writers have suggested that this may indicate a journey through central Italy, perhaps to Rome.

By 1496 Alba’s Virgin Enthroned between SS Hugh and Anselm had been placed in the Certosa di Pavia (...

[Johann]

(b ?Roveredo, nr Bellinzona, 1575–80; d Pressburg, Hungary [now Bratislava, Slovakia], 1657).

Swiss-Italian architect. He was probably the most important member of a large family group of masons originating from the Swiss canton of Grisons and resident from c. 1600 at Dillingen on the River Danube; Alberthal’s presence there is recorded until 1623. The Protestant parish church at Haunsheim (Swabia, Germany) was built by Alberthal (from 1603) to a design by Heintz, Joseph (Basle). From c. 1610 he was Master Builder to the bishops of Augsburg and Eichstätt, while continuing to accept commissions from other patrons and erecting a series of buildings over a wide area. For example, at Eichstätt he erected a bishop’s palace, the Willibaldsburg (from 1609), to another architect’s plan, and the Jesuit church (1617–20), also following another architect’s plan. At Dillingen itself he built the Jesuit church of the Ascension (from 1610) to a design by another architect, as well as a hall church, the parish church of St Peter (...

(b Dec 12, 1479; d ?Bologna, c. April 1552).

Italian historian, topographer, writer and patron. He was a friar and first entered the Dominican Order at Forlì but was in Bologna from 1495 and was officially transferred to the monastery there in 1500. Alberti received an extensive grounding in humanist studies under the Bolognese rhetorician Giovanni Garzoni. After acting as companion to the head of the order, Tomaso de Vio Cajetan, Alberti was made Provinciale di Terra Santa in Rome in 1520. This included the role of travelling companion to Tomaso’s successor, Fra Silvestri da Ferrara (‘il Ferrariense’). His travels with Silvestri throughout Italy, including the islands, laid the foundations for his most important work, the Descrittione di tutta l’Italia (1550), modelled on the Italia illustrata of Flavio Biondo. It was reprinted many times: the Venice edition of 1561 was the first to include Alberti’s sections on the islands of Italy, which were not covered by Biondo; the Venice edition of ...

(b Genoa, Feb 14, 1404; d Rome, April 1472).

Italian architect, sculptor, painter, theorist and writer. The arts of painting, sculpture and architecture were, for Alberti, only three of an exceptionally broad range of interests, for he made his mark in fields as diverse as family ethics, philology and cryptography. It is for his contribution to the visual arts, however, that he is chiefly remembered. Alberti single-handedly established a theoretical foundation for the whole of Renaissance art with three revolutionary treatises, on painting, sculpture and architecture, which were the first works of their kind since Classical antiquity. Moreover, as a practitioner of the arts, he was no less innovative. In sculpture he seems to have been instrumental in popularizing, if not inventing, the portrait medal, but it was in architecture that he found his métier. Building on the achievements of his immediate predecessors, Filippo Brunelleschi and Michelozzo di Bartolomeo, he reinterpreted anew the architecture of antiquity and introduced compositional formulae that have remained central to classical design ever since....

(di Biagio di Bindo)

(b Florence, Oct 13, 1474; d Florence, Nov 5, 1515).

Italian painter. Albertinelli’s contribution to the Florentine High Renaissance was inspired by the work of Fra Bartolommeo, and the two artists worked together in a partnership, their paintings appearing to be the product of a single hand. Albertinelli, however, always retained artistic independence, as is revealed in certain paintings that are eccentrically archaic and in others that show a preference for conventions more typical of the early Renaissance.

According to Vasari, Albertinelli and Fra Bartolommeo were both apprenticed to Cosimo Rosselli. The two young painters became friends and after their emancipation operated a joint workshop in the 1490s. Vasari also stated that in an interlude before 1494 Albertinelli worked exclusively for Alfonsina Orsini, the wife of Piero II de’ Medici (reg 1492–4), but the works made for her cannot be identified. Albertinelli initially specialized in small, elegantly framed paintings destined for the homes of sophisticated patrons. These works were produced independently of Fra Bartolommeo and are stylistically distinguishable. From Piero di Cosimo, the most creative personality in Cosimo Rosselli’s workshop, Albertinelli absorbed Flemish techniques, a spirited versatility in imitation and a tendency towards eccentricity. For example, the ...