LORENZO di CREDI. — Painter, sculptor, and goldsmith, b. in Florence in 1456 or 1459–60, d. there on 12 January 1537.
Among his earliest works are the Self-Portrait (1488) in the Widener Collection in Philadelphia, the Venus (the only profane painting to escape the bonfire of vanities of 1497, under the influence of Savonarola’s preaching), and the youthful Annunciation (both in the Uffizi), which may give an indication of his abilities and of his derivations from the Verrocchio milieu and from that north of the Alps; Leonardo himself also exerted a considerable influence on his formation, and the attribution of certain works (such as the Portrait of Ginevra dei Benci, in the Liechtenstein Gallery in Vienna) has often oscillated between the one and the other.
Not a great artist and at times monotonous, especially in his repetition of the compositions of his Madonnas, he nevertheless knew how to instill in his paintings a sense of composure, expressing his seriousness and professional integrity. Among his best-known paintings are the Madonna between s. Giuliano and s. Nicola (now in the Louvre), executed ca. 1503 for the church of Cestello; the Madonna and 4 saints in S. Maria delle Grazie in Pistoia, for which he was paid in 1510; and, from approximately the same period, the S. Bartolomeo on a pilaster in Orsanmichele and the Adoration of the Shepherds for S. Chiara (now in the Uffizi); in 1523 he signed the S. Michele, in the sacristy of the cathedral of Florence. His enamel-like color and highly distinctive attention to detail earned him Vasari’s praise; and he is often found serving on commissions, such as that of 1491 for the examination of the project for the façade of S. Maria del Fiore, that of 1498 for the dome, and that of 1504 for the placement of Michelangelo’s David.