Skegeja

Giovanni was born in 1406 in Castel San Giovanni (now San Giovanni Valdarno) and was the second son in the family of notary Giovanni di Simone and his wife Jacopa, born five years later than his famous brother Tommaso, known by the nickname Masaccio . Apparently, Vittore was named at his birth, but due to the fact that his father died in the year of his birth, his father's name Giovanni passed to him (this practice was very common at that time in Tuscany). Around 1417, his family moved from Valdarno to Florence.

As a young man, he went to serve as a soldier to the condottiere Braccio da Montone , but about 1420 quit this occupation, and probably under the influence and with the help of his older brother entered the studio of the painter Bicci di Lorenzo, a traditional painter who produced average quality products. According to archival documents, in 1426, Scheuja acts as an assistant to his brother, Masaccio, when he worked on the creation of a polyptych for the Order of the Carmelites in Pisa. In the following, in 1427, his name appears in the Florentine tax return drawn up by Masaccio. After the death of his brother in 1428, Scheuja waived the rights to his inheritance, and assumed all the responsibilities for the maintenance of the mother. In 1430, he joined the Florentine brotherhood of St. Luke, uniting various masters of art; in 1432 he became a member of the guild of masons and carpenters (Arte di Pietra e Legname), and in 1433 a member of the guild of doctors and pharmacists (Arte dei Medici e degli Speziali), in which Florentine artists were listed.

His nickname "Skege" (it. "Splinter, sliver"), researchers attributed to the fact that Giovanni was a carpenter and woodcarver - he made and painted chests, cassone, small home altars, trays for women in labor (so-called. parto "; in the XIV-XV centuries in the rich families of Siena and Florence, there was a custom to offer such trays to women in labor), etc. ^[7] Having mastered the profession of woodcarver and joining the carpenters' guild who defended the rights of the masters of this business, Skedge increased his profitability labor, since all the carpentry performed and alive Pisnya work independently. In the years 1439-40, his name appears in the reports of the Florentine cathedral, where he, in the joiners brigade, decorated the cabinets in the sacristy of the cathedral using intarsia techniques (the inlaid cabinets were made in accordance with mathematical laws, and therefore the researchers have no doubt that the whole project was under the direction of Filippo Brunelleschi).

Despite the fact that Skege, unlike his brother, lived a long life (he died at the age of 80) and created many works, only one work with his signature remained - remnants of frescoes “Martyrdom of St. Sebastian "(probably the paintings belong to the initial stage of his work, but later, in 1456-57, he added several figures; the paintings are fragmentary and poorly preserved). The artist painted these frescoes in the church of San Lorenzo in his homeland in San Giovanni Valdarno, probably there he took the first independent steps in art. There, in Valdarno, today are also stored the details of the tabernacle created by Skegey together with Paolo Schiavo . The central panel of the tabernacle Madonna and Child on the Throne (c. 1435; Museum of the Basilica in San Giovanni, Valdarno) demonstrates the influence of Fra Angelico .

Unlike his brother, Skegey had a developed business vein: he chose a modest, but profitable site for making and painting various household items to decorate the interiors and habitats of wealthy citizens - boxes, coffers, cassone paintings, spalers, trays for women in labor, beds, portraits, etc. (it may be recalled that his grandfather Simone was quite a successful furniture-maker). He founded his own workshop in 1429, soon after the death of his brother, and over time it became perhaps the most popular among the wealthy citizens of Florence, second only to the workshop of Apollonio di Giovanni . Joining the guild of doctors and pharmacists, Scheuge as the brother of the late Masaccio received significant tax credits. In addition, the halo of "Brother Masaccio" probably helped him to establish extensive connections in the artistic environment, which he would otherwise have hardly acquired, and customer patrons, who would hardly have ordered him products without this halo. Among them was the family of the rulers of Florence - Medici. For example, a tray for a woman in labor with the image of the "Triumph of Glory" (Metropolitan Museum, New York), was created by Skegey in 1448-9. on the occasion of the birth of Lorenzo Medici , and is listed in the inventory of Medici property, compiled in 1492 (the picture decorated the bedroom). In all likelihood, the relationship with the Medici family, and with Lorenzo in particular, was quite close, since in the same inventory there are paintings of the spalier, created already on the occasion of Lorenzo's wedding with Clarice Orsini with the image of wedding celebrations, and also with the image of the famous knight tournament hosted by Lorenzo in 1469. These paintings have now been lost, but four images of triumphs have been preserved (Palazzo Davanatso Museum, Florence), which are listed in the same inventory.

The catalog of works of Skeji was composed of a corpus of works previously attributed to a nameless master, who was designated Master Cassone Adimari (according to the Cassone Adimari kept in the Florentine Gallery of the Academy; the catalog of his works was described in several works by Roberto Longi, published from 1926 to 1952 ), as the Master from Fucecchio, who created the altar picture “Madonna with Child and Saints” for the church of San Giovanni Battista in this settlement (in 1932-34, the German art historian Georg Pudelko discovered a sketch of the two anonymous artists). In a study published in 1969, the Italian scientist Luciano Bellozi was able to prove that this anonymous master and Skegeja are one and the same artist.

Being a painter of a much more modest talent than his brother, Scheuja, nevertheless, used in his work all the latest artistic achievements of the Florentine Renaissance: the rules of scientific perspective and ancient motifs. He depicted everyday scenes and the modern Florentine street, as can be seen in the Casson Adimari, as well as classical plots - both biblical and pagan. His artistic style was eclectic: in the remains of frescoes depicting the "Martyrdom of St.. Sebastian "you can see the influence of creativity of his brother Masaccio, in the future in his works can be seen the influence of contemporary Florentine painters - Fra Angelico , Domenico Veneziano , Paolo Uccello .

Career Giovanni Skege lasted an unusually long time. In the cadastral inventory of 1480, when the master was already 74 years old, it is reported that he, together with the embroiderer Luca di Pietro, rented premises for a workshop (most likely they cooperated to make stretchers ordered by the Brotherhood of St. Zinovy ​​of the Florentine Cathedral). In the workshop also worked the son of Skeji - Antonfrancesco (born 1441 - mind. 1476), whose name appears in several documents of the 1470-80s. Later, the family-owned business, along with the nickname "Skege", was continued by Antonfrancesco's son, Giovanni, and grandson of Tommaso, who was named after his famous great-great-grandfather Tommaso Masaccio.

Giovanni di Ser Giovanni Skege died on November 1, 1486 and was buried in the Florentine church of Santa Croce.

Among the many works (numbering more than one hundred) attributed to Skédge, several works are considered to be the most important ones illustrating his work.

The largest easel work is the altar painting “Madonna with Child and Saints”, which the artist created for the church of San Giovanni Battista in Valdarno around 1450 (195x200cm). It has an unusual iconography. The painter depicted the Madonna and Child, surrounded by angels forming the mandorla, and saints Sebastian (standing left on the stone), as well as Lazarus, Mary Magdalene and Martha, who were seated in a boat in front of the Virgin Mary. The boat symbolizes their departure to Gaul, where they will preach the holy doctrine. The painting today is kept in the Fucecchio City Museum.

“Cassone Adimari”, is a long picture on the board (88.5x303 cm, Gallery of the Academy, Florence), which probably has nothing to do with the cassone chests or the Adimari family. For the chest, it is too large to decorate its front side - more than 3 meters. Regarding the fact that the picture shows the wedding of Boccaccio Adimari and Liza Ricasoli, which took place in 1420, as claimed by a XVIII century source Marco Lastri, there are also serious doubts. Five couples dancing the “Kirintana” wedding dance popular in Florence in the 15th century (the first, slowest part of the dance is represented in the picture) are dressed in costumes typical of the 1450s, but not of the 1420s. In addition, according to the historians of musical instruments, the pufferry musicians accompanying the dancers use an ancient variety of trombone, which could not be depicted before 1443, when Florentine puffery began to play on it. Thus, the researchers attributed the creation of the picture to 1443-50 years, but did not rule out the possibility that the wedding could depict not Adimari and Ricasoli, but Adimari and Martelli, which could take place in the middle of the century. It shows the square in front of the Florentine Baptistery, on which the tent is installed, under which five couples in expensive clothes solemnly perform a slow dance. Musicians blow pipes decorated with pennants with the emblem of the Signoria - the Florentine government. On the left, the servants carry a large dish, and not far from them, the man dozed off, despite the loud music and wedding bustle - the scene is a genre street sketch, aptly captured by the artist. The whole composition is built in full accordance with the science of perspective.

The “Triumph of Glory” (diameter 92.7 cm; c. 1448, Metropolitan Museum, New York) is the largest known Renaissance trays for women in labor (they usually measure 60-65 cm). In addition, it is the only tray for women in labor with the “Triumph of Glory” scene. Such a plot was chosen for the painting due to the fact that the tray was presented to Lucrezia Tornabuoni, wife of the ruler of Florence Piero dei Medici, on the occasion of the birth of her son Lorenzo, who later became the famous ruler of Florence, famous as Lorenzo the Magnificent (thus, we can assume that Skege with the plot was not wrong). The iconography of the painting is based on the poem by Giovanni Boccaccio “Love Vision” (Amorose visione, 1342g) and “Triumphs” (Trionfi, 1354-74) by Francesco Petrarch. Skege depicted "Glory" in the form of a winged woman with a sword and a statue of Cupid in her hands, standing on a globe, which is part of a rather complex pedestal. 28 armed horsemen extend their arms to it. In the text of Petrarch, these are the celebrated figures of antiquity: Caesar, Hannibal, Achilles, Noah, King Arthur, Plato, Aristotle, and Herodotus, however, Schedge did not strictly follow the poem, but depicted the horsemen as a frieze, highlighting and emphasizing the aggressive component. On the reverse side are the emblems of the Medici and Tornabuoni families. At the time of Lorenzo, a tray decorated the wall of his chambers; today the Metropolitan Museum, New York is kept.

Skedzhe is also credited with icons depicting the Madonna and Child, which for the most part were made for home use (as a rule, they are of a small format). In addition, in his catalog there are portraits that have a complex attribution history (before that, different experts attributed them to different artists).

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  Capture Alba Longi Tullius Gostiliem. Cassone, ca. 1430-35gg, Sotheby's Auction

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  Departure of Frederick III and Leonora of Portugal in Rome. Cassone, 1452, Worcester Museum of Art

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  Scene of battle. Cassone. 1450-75, Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

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  The story of Susanna, Cassone. Palazzo Davanci, Florence.

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  Portrait of a lady. OK. 1460, Museum of Art, Philadelphia.

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  Madonna and Child and four playing angels, Sotheby's Auction,

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