BARONZIO, GIOVANNI. — Painter from Rimini, dead by 1362. In 1345 he signed a polyptych now in the gallery of Urbino; a crucifix signed in the same year is also attributed to him: Joannes de Arimino, in Mercatello (v. GIOVANNI DA RIMINI). The artistic personality of B., revealed by L. Venturi, who saw in him the foremost representative of the Rimini school, the artist who fused Byzantine chromaticism with Florentine formal plasticism, deriving from them a style of his own, has been critically reassessed by recent studies (M. Salmi), which have defined his standing in relation to the other artists of the same school. In light of these studies, B. must be regarded as the disseminator of the taste of the principal artists of Rimini (Pietro da Rimini and the Master of S. Agostino); a capable disseminator, but one not supported by a clear sense of balance. Indeed, whereas in the fine Crucifix of Mercatello the Giottesque scheme is stylistically fused with the traditional Rimini formulas (the elongation of the forms is typical), and the delicate treatment of chiaroscuro, maintained in a greenish tonality, accentuates the plasticism without outward dramatic effects, in the Urbino altarpiece the balance of the parts is not equally satisfactory. The fluid plasticism of the central group with the Madonna enthroned is set against wooden figures (Last Supper) and popular-looking ones (Adoration of the Magi), as well as laborious and confused compositions (Kiss of Judas). The polyptych of Mercatello is also attributed to B., and it is believed that the artist collaborated in the decoration of the Cappellone of S. Nicola in Tolentino (ca. 1348).
Barontius, Giovanni
BIBL.: E. Calzini, s. V. in Thieme-Becker, II, pp. 520–24 (with bibliography); L. Venturi, Attraverso le Marche, in L'arte, 18 (1915), pp. 4–8; R. van Marle, The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting, IV, The Hague 1924, pp. 314–28; L. Serra, L'arte nelle Marche, Pesaro 1920, pp. 267–75. Fundamental are the studies of M. Salmi, La scuola di Rimini, in Rivista del r. istituto d'archeologia e storia dell'arte, 1931–32, fasc. III, pp. 226–267; 1932–33, fasc. II–III, pp. 145–201; 1935, fasc. I–II, pp. 98–127, part of the second of which is devoted (p. 179 ff.) to B. For the most recent catalogue of the works, cf. Mostra della Pittura riminese del Trecento: Catalogo, edited by C. Brandi, Rimini 1935. Cf., concerning B., also M. Salmi’s review of the aforementioned catalogue, in Rivista d'arte, 1 (1935), pp. 323–30, C. Brandi’s reply, Conclusioni su alcuni discussi problemi della pittura riminese del Trecento, in Critica d'arte, 1 (1935–36), pp. 229–37, and M. Salmi’s response, in Rivista d'arte, 18 (1936), pp. 409–13. For various attributions to B., cf. also B. Berenson, Pittura italiane del Rinascimento, Milan 1936, pp. 37–38, and A. Venturi, Gruppo di cose inedite, in L'arte, 41 (1938), pp. 44–53. Elsa Gerlini
Cite this article
“BARONZIO, GIOVANNI.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. II (1949), p. 529. Azione Romana digital edition, https://azioneromana.com/article/baronzio-giovanni.