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MARMITTA, Francesco - b. ~1460 Parma, d. ~1504 Parma - WGA

MARMITTA, Francesco

(b. ~1460 Parma, d. ~1504 Parma)

Italian illuminator, painter and gem-engraver. According to Vasari, Marmitta lived in Parma and, after training as a painter, became an engraver of gemstones, ‘closely imitating the ancients’. Although no signed work is known, he is mentioned in verses prefacing a manuscript of Petrarch’s Canzoniere and Trionfi.

Virgin and Child Flanked by Sts Benedict and Quentin
Virgin and Child Flanked by Sts Benedict and Quentin by

Virgin and Child Flanked by Sts Benedict and Quentin

The model of the Sacred Conversation, developed in the 1470s by Giovanni Bellini and Antonello da Messina, became widely used outside the Veneto, reaching Emilia and Romagna, and continued until the early sixteenth century. In his one known altarpiece, Marmitta followed this model.

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