ALUNNO, NICCOLÒ (NICCOLÒ di LIBERATORE). — Painter, born in Foligno ca. 1430, died there in 1502. From his earliest work, the panel painted in 1458 at Deruta for the church of the Franciscans, the naturalism that characterizes the most authentic Umbrian tradition appears fully developed, albeit in external forms.
In 1465, with his father-in-law Pietro Mazzaforte, he painted the polyptych for Cagli, now in the Brera; in 1466 that of Montelpare (Vatican): and in these, and in other panels, the undeniable influence of Benozzo Gozzoli’s paintings in Montefalco gradually diminishes through his contacts in the Marches with the works of the Vivarini and Carlo Crivelli. At Gualdo Tadino (1472), in the church of S. Francesco, a polyptych with over fifty figures represents his masterpiece. We may also recall the Albani polyptych of 1475 and the great altarpiece (Coronation of the Virgin) in S. Nicolò of Foligno (1492), where the original and balanced Tuscan-inflected taste that undoubtedly constituted the painter’s style is lost.