BARONZIO, GIOVANNI. - Painter from Rimini, already 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, at Mercatello (v. GIOVANNI DA RIMINI). The artistic personality of B., revealed by L. Venturi, who saw in him the major representative of the Riminese school, the artist who fused, deriving from them a style of his own, Byzantine chromatism with Florentine formal plasticism, has been critically re-examined by recent studies (M. Salmi), which have defined his evaluation in relation to the other artists of the same school. In the light of these, B. must be considered the disseminator of the taste of the principal Riminese masters (Pietro da Rimini and the Master of St. Augustine); a skilful disseminator but not sustained by a clear equilibrium. In fact, whereas in the beautiful Crucifix of Mercatello the Giottesque scheme is fused with stylistic coherence to the traditional Riminese modules (the elongation of forms being typical) and the delicate treatment of chiaroscuro, kept in a greenish tonality, accentuates the plasticism without external dramatic effects, in the Urbino altarpiece the equilibrium of the parts is not equally successful. Against the fluid plasticism of the central group with the Madonna enthroned are set wooden figures (Cenacle) and popular ones (Adoration of the Magi), laboured 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 great chapel of St. Nicholas in Tolentino (c. 1348).

Bibliography6 works

BIBL.: E. Calzini, s. v. in Thieme-Becker, II, pp. 520-24 (with bibl.); 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, L'Aia 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, of which part of the second is devoted (p. 179 ff.) to B. For the most recent catalogue of works cf. Mostra della Pittura riminese del Trecento: Catalogo, edited by C. Brandi, Rimini 1935. Cf., with regard to B., also the review by M. Salmi of the aforesaid catalogue, in Rivista d'arte, 1 (1935), pp. 323-30, the reply of C. Brandi, Conclusioni su alcuni discussi problemi della pittura riminese del Trecento, in Critica d'arte, 1 (1935-36), pp. 229-37, and the response of M. Salmi, in Rivista d'arte, 18 (1936), pp. 409-13. For various attributions to B. cf. also B. Berenson, Pittura italiane del Rinascimento, Milano 1936, pp. 37-38, and A. Venturi, Gruppo di cose inedite, in L'arte, 41 (1938), pp. 44-53.

Elsa Gerlini

@incollection{ec2_baronzio_giovanni, author = {Gerlini, Elsa}, title = {Baronzio, giovanni}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {II}, pages = {890--891}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1949}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/baronzio-giovanni} }

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Baronzio, Giovanni

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