Key to Umbria: Perugia
 

Stefano Amadei was born in Perugia.  He was a mathematician as well as an artist, and studies perspective and design.  He was among those responsible for the resurgence in the fortunes of the Accademia di Belle Arti in Perugia in the 17th century.

Perugia

God the Father (copy, ca. 1608 ??)

This panel in the Galleria Nazionale is either the original or an early copy of the upper panel of the Baglioni Altarpiece (1507), which  Atalanta Baglioni commissioned from Raphael for her altar in San Francesco al Prato.  It depicts God the Father, who would have looked down across the intervening frame into the face of His dead Son.  The altarpiece was dismembered in 1608, when Franciscans somewhat controversially sold its main panel to Cardinal Scipione Borghese.  (The French took this main panel to Paris in 1797, but it was subsequently returned to the Galleria Borghese, Rome.) 

The putative upper panel was documented in various locations after the dismemberment of the altarpiece in 1608:

  1. Giovanni Francesco Morelli saw it above the high altar of the Oratorio di San Bernardino in 1683.  It was in a reconstruction of the original work that also included a copy (1609) of the main panel that is attributed to Giuseppe Cesari, il Cavalier d’ Arpino.  He described this upper panel as a copy by Stefano Amadei.

  2. Giuseppe Maria Modestini saw it above another altarpiece on the Altare del Presepio of San Francesco al Prato in 1787.  He believed that it came from the original altarpiece by Raphael. 

There is still no consensus on the status of the panel in the gallery.  If it is indeed a copy, the location of the original is unknown.  Scholars who deem it to be original concede that it is a workshop painting that follows Raphael’s design.  (One such design, which is attributed to Raphael) survives in the Palais des Beaux Arts, Lille).  Umberto Gnoli attributed it to Domenico Alfani (referenced in the page on this artist).  However, the gallery notes support the theory that it is a copy by Stefano Amadei. 

Madonna and Child with Saints (1632)

This panel by Stefano Amadei [,which is dated by inscription,] is in San Severo.

Panels from the Chiesa del Gesù (17th century)

  

These two panels by Stefano Amadei in the presbytery of the Chiesa del Gesù depict:

  1. the Adoration of the Shepherds; and

  2. the Adoration of the Magi.

Panels from Santa Maria Nuova (17th century)

       

These two panels by Stefano Amadei on the Altare dell’ Addolorata of Santa Maria Nuova depict:

  1. the Presentation at the Temple; and

  2. the Marriage of the Virgin.

Mystical Marriage of St Catherine (17th century)

[This panel is in the Biblioteca Comunale]


Return to Art in:  Perugia

 


Stefano Amadei (1589-1644) 


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Stefano Amadei in:  Perugia