The Adoration of the Magi

Giovanni di Paolo

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Giovanni di Paolo

Italian · 1403–1482

Sienese school

Giovanni di Paolo di Grazia was an Italian painter, working primarily in Siena, becoming a prolific painter and illustrator of manuscripts, including Dante's texts. He was one of the most important painters of the 15th century Sienese School. His early works show the influence of earlier Sienese masters, but his later style was more individual, characterized by cold, harsh colours and elongated forms. His style also took on the influence of International Gothic artists such as Gentile da Fabriano. Many of his works have an unusual dreamlike atmosphere, such as the surrealistic Miracle of St. Nicholas of Tolentino painted about 1455 and now housed in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, while his last works, particularly Last Judgment, Heaven, and Hell from about 1465 and Assumption painted in 1475, both at Pinacoteca Nazionale (Siena), are grotesque treatments of their lofty subjects. Giovanni's reputation declined after his death but was revived in the 20th century.

Independent artist guide by Momentable. Biography from Wikipedia; artworks credited to the museums that hold them.

Stream Giovanni di Paolo Wikipedia

The Adoration of the Magi — The living window: art moves here the way it moves in your living room.

life: 1403–1482life
movement: Sienese schoolmovement

The work

A selection of 1 works, free to stream.

Works worth knowing

What Giovanni di Paolo made, and why each one is worth looking at.

How Giovanni di Paolo worked

From the record of their own practice.

Later in his life, Giovanni became greatly skilled at painting illuminated manuscripts, he illuminated choir books for the Augustinian monks at Lecceto as well as Dante's Divine Comedy. The illuminations that he created for Dante's poem are some of his most famous and best-preserved works. His illuminations are one area where viewers can see how Giovanni di Paolo differentiates himself from other Sienese artists. He may have been in contact with Franco-Flemish illuminators, who had been in Siena during Giovanni's early years. It seems their Northern influence may have rubbed off on Giovanni because his landscapes resemble those in the famous painting by the Limbourg brothers; Tres Riches Heures.