Page 34 - Jacobello del Fiore - His Oeuvre and a Sumptuous Crucifixion

sperimentale’] of Gentile’s naturalism, The author would like to express his gratitude to those
Jacobello preferred to take refuge in that who generously offered suggestions and references, and in
‘sullen’ and ‘ritual’ [‘corrucciata’, ‘rituale’] particular Keith Christiansen, Andrea De Marchi,
dimension that constitutes the charm of his Cristina Guarnieri, and Mauro Minardi. I am also
painting. grateful to Anna Ottani Cavina and Elisabetta Sambo for
assisting my research in the Fondazione Federico Zeri in
The discovery of a new chapter of Bologna.
Jacobello’s activity, stretching over almost
fifteen years, now affords us a better eee
understanding of his life and experience,
and thus allows a validation of his role as a
protagonist of Venetian painting – a role
questioned by recent research, with its
focus on other painters. It was Jacobello
who had to face the challenge of renewing
local figurative culture from within, by
degrees, and who ultimately succeeded in
connecting the thread that tied it to its
fourteenth-century principles. In the light
of his youthful adherence to the Paduan
neo-Giottesque style, we can better
understand how keenly, starting in 1407, he
sought to adapt the novelty of the Lombard
late Gothic style to local sensibilities.

DANIELE BENATI (January 2007)

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