GHERARDO DI GIOVANNI DEL FORA

Gherardo di Giovanni di Miniato del Fora, Italian illuminator and painter, member of a family of artists. The sculptor Giovanni Miniato (1398-1479), a collaborator of Donatello, had three sons who were active in Florence as artists: Bartolomeo di Giovanni (di Miniato) del Fora (1442-1494), Gherardo di Giovanni (di Miniato) del Fora and Monte di Giovanni (di Miniato) del Fora (1448-1533). The three brothers maintained a book workshop together from 1465 and continued to work together until 1476, when Bartolomeo left, seemingly for financial reasons. Since Gherardo and Monte often collaborated, their work is sometimes difficult to distinguish with complete confidence. Both were familiar with contemporary painting, but they had different interests. Gherardo was sensitive to an ordered arrangement of figures in space; he preferred his portraits to be inscrutable, and he liked to reproduce contemporary Florentine architecture faithfully. Monte's urban views, by comparison, were more imaginative and his portraits more expressive.

Gherardo was active from the early 1460s as an illuminator and also painted panels and frescoes, he was also known as a mosaicist. His large-scale work can be attributed only through a systematic analysis of the illuminationGLOSSARYThe decoration of manuscripts, one of the most common forms of medieval art; because of its monastic origins, usually of religious texts. The practice extends from heavy decorations of initial letters and inter-woven margin patterns (as in Celtic examples) to miniatures and and full-page illuminations, often of a formal and grandiose kind (as in Byzantine manuscripts). Rich colors are a common feature, in particular a luxirious use of gold and silver. Illuminations survived the advent of printing for some time and only died out with the rise of printed illustration in the 16 century. that has been assigned to him by scholars in the 20th century. With his brothers he maintained a workshop, from which the principal religious and secular institutions of Florence commissioned illustrated books.

Gherardo lived for many years as a lay brother in San Marco; he had literary and musical interests and frequented the bottegas of the most prestigious painters, from Bartolomeo della Gatta to Leonardo da Vinci. The salient characteristics of Gherardo's work in manuscripts, and sometimes in printed books, include the introduction of the AntiqueGLOSSARYthe classical age of Greece and Rome began with the Greek migrations of the 2nd millennium BC, and ended in the West in 476 AD with the deposition of the Roman emperor Romulus Augustulus (c. 475 AD); in the East it ended in 529 AD when the Platonic Academy was closed by Justinian (482 - 565 AD).; an interest in portraiture and the peculiarities of architecture and landscape; the study of colour and light; the early introduction of Netherlandish elements in landscapes; and innovations in the layout of the page. He also introduced an unusual type of border, elegantly decorated all'antica with cameos, grotesques, mythological figures and candelabraGLOSSARYA large, usually decorated, candlestick, usually with several branches or arms. drawn from engravings and sculpture. Other sculptural motifs include the tondoGLOSSARYA circular painting or relief sculpture. The tondo derives from classical medallions and was used in the Renaissance as a compositional device for creating an ideal visual harmony. It was particularly popular in Florence and was often used for depictions of the Madonna and Child., reminiscent of Donatello, and the festoons with fruit and flowers in the style of the della Robbia family.