BIOGRAFIA GIANBATTISTA TIEPOLO 

 

Antonio de’ Sacchis known as Pordenone, mainly active between Lombardy, Veneto and Friuli, was born in Pordenone in 1484.
He was a pupil of Pellegrino of San Daniele, he competed with Tiziano for elegance and power of colour, author of spectacular frescoes located in the most majestic and important churches of Northern Italy. 

He is formed after being in contact with the Roman Style of Raffaello and Michelangelo but also under the influence of Giorgione and Mantegna from which he learns a certain ability for narrative and perspective.

His art is asserted in 1508 with an extraordinary cycle of frescoes for the Church of San Lorenzo in Vacile in which the balance and the artistic power of the figures of the Apostles, saints and scholars of the Church are shown. After a short time in Rome, in 1514, he depicts the sumptuous decorations for the apse of the Church of Sant’Ulderico in Villanova: the expression of the subjects, in fact, are loaded with pathos while the choral scenes have a majestic expression that is very unusual.

After assimilating the novelties of Roman painting, Pordenone bases his art on a combination of Narrative Style, typically Roman, his ability to depict the human body and on the skillful use of colour, specializing in the large scenographies. This combination and inclination towards large subjects lead him to specialize in frescoes, a technique that provides a fair success in the Venetian and Lombardy provinces, where he handles the decorations of the Treviso cathedral, depicting the Adoration of the Magi, between 1519 and 1524.

However, Pordenone’s career suffered greatly from his stylistic essence; the most important cultural and artistic centers did not appraise his value. In 1528, in fact, he loses a public tender for the altarpiece of St. Peter Martyr who sees, instead, the rise of the young Venetian painter Tiziano Vecellio.

In 1532 he was commissioned by Doria to decorate the façade of Palazzo Fasolo, in Genoa: the Master realized a majestic cycle of frescoes dedicated to the Jason’s Stories, lost in the Baroque era. However, the altarpiece of Santo Stefano Giustiniani and Santi was perfectly preserved. 

The altarpiece exhibits the typical elongated figures of Pordenone’s style and is presented in a lively narrative form, created through the use of colours.
Following the creation of some frescoes for the Cividale Cathedral and a splendid gigantomach for the façade of Palazzo Tinghi in Udine, the artist disappears from the artistic scene in 1539.