ALBERTO, SOTIO. - Painter, probably from Spoleto, active in the second half of the 12th century. A Cross painted in tempera on parchment applied to wood, coming from the church of Sts. John and Paul in Spoleto and now in the cathedral of that city, bears his signature and the date 1187. Christ is represented there alive, with open eyes, body erect and feet spread apart: in the side panels are the standing figures of the Madonna and St. John. Two frescoes in the church of Sts. John and Paul in Spoleto have been rightly attributed to A., one of which, in the crypt, represents the Martyrdom of the two titular saints, and the other the Martyrdom of St. Thomas of Canterbury. - See Plates LIV-LV.
Plate LIVMARTYRDOM OF SS. JOHN AND PAULSpoleto, Church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo.(fol. Anderson)
Plate LVCRUCIFIX signed and dated (1187) - Spoleto, Cathedral.(fol. Anderson)
A.'s style is linked to the great current of Benedictine-Roman painting, of which it constitutes a characteristic provincial offshoot, perhaps not immune to some contact with contemporary Tuscan painting, especially that of Lucca. The Cross of Spoleto, notable for the energetic sureness of its drawing and the accuracy of its execution, can be considered the progenitor of a numerous series of painted crosses from Umbria: in fact the Crucifix that in the little church of St. Damian in Assisi (now in the church of St. Clare) spoke to St. Francis, slightly earlier and very similar to the one from Spoleto, is perhaps a Roman and not an Umbrian work.
Bibliography3 worksU. Gnoli, Pittori e miniatori nell'Umbria, Spoleto 1923, p. 15 (with bibl.); E. S. Vavala, La Croce dipinta italiana, Verona 1929, pp. 613-1
BIBL.: U. Gnoli, Pittori e miniatori nell'Umbria, Spoleto 1923, p. 15 (with bibl.); E. S. Vavala, La Croce dipinta italiana, Verona 1929, pp. 613-19; L. Coletti, I Primitivi, I, Novara 1941, p. 17.
Carli, Enzo. “Alberto, sotio.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. I, col. 696. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1948. https://azioneromana.com/article/alberto-sotio.
MLA
Carli, Enzo. “Alberto, sotio.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. I, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1948, col. 696. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/alberto-sotio.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec1_alberto_sotio,
author = {Carli, Enzo},
title = {Alberto, sotio},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {I},
pages = {696},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1948},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/alberto-sotio}
}
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