ALUNNO, NICCOLÒ (NICCOLÒ di LIBERATORE). - Painter, b. at Foligno c. 1430, d. there in 1502. From his earliest work, the panel painted in 1458 at Deruta for the church of the Franciscans, the naturalism characteristic of the most authentic Umbrian tradition appears in full, albeit in outward forms.
In 1465, together with his father-in-law Pietro Mazzaforte, A. painted the polyptych for Cagli, now at the Brera; in 1466, that of Montelpare (Vatican): and in these, as in other panels, the undeniable influence of Benozzo Gozzoli’s paintings at Montefalco gradually became tempered through contacts in the Marche with the works of the Vivarini and of Carlo Crivelli. At Gualdo Tadino (1472), in the church of S. Francesco, a polyptych with more than fifty figures represents his masterpiece. Also to be recalled are the Albani polyptych of 1475 and the great altarpiece (Coronation of the Virgin) of S. Nicolò at Foligno (1492), in which the original Tuscan-Venetian balance that undoubtedly constituted the
(photo Almari)