Key to Umbria: Gubbio
 


Giovanni Maria Baldassini (1540-1601)


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Giovanni Maria Baldassini in:  Gualdo Tadino    Gubbio

Giovanni Maria Baldassini  is first documented in 1566 in connection with a minor commission for the Confraternita dei Bianchi in Gubbio.

In his will of 1589, the artist Felice Damiani left his working materials to three of his colleagues: Virgilio Nucci, Pier Angelo Basili and Giovanni Maria Baldassini. 

[Two documented works in 1596: on the Altare della Madonna in Santa Maria dei Laici; and on a panel of St Laurence in San Pietro]

Gubbio

Calling of St Peter (1574)

This altarpiece by Giovanni Maria Baldassini is in San Giovanni Battista (on the 2nd altar on the right).   It was moved here (via the deposit of the Duomo) from San Paolo alla Piaggiola: this church was closed and sold in 1906.




Transfiguration (1585)

Vincenzo Buffi commissioned this altarpiece that is now in Sant’ Ubaldo (in the 2nd bay on the right) for a chapel in San Domenico.  It is by/ attributed to Giovanni Maria Baldassini. 

  1. ✴The upper part is based on the famous altarpiece (1520) of the Transfiguration by Raphael, which was originally in San Pietro in Montorio, Rome and is now in the Pinacoteca Vaticana. 

  2. ✴In the lower part, SS Ubaldus and Augustine kneel in the foreground, with SS Thomas Aquinas, Dominic, Francis and Catherine of Siena behind them. 

Madonna and Child with saints (1595)

This altarpiece is in Sant’ Agostino (in the 4th chapel on the left).   Its inscription records: the name of the lady who commissioned it, Vincenza Zanzi; the name of the artist, “G.B.” (Giovanni Maria Baldassini); and the date, 1595.  It depicts the Madonna and Child enthroned, with two angels holding a crown above the head of the Madonna.  The baby Jesus offers a wedding ring to St Catherine of Alexandria (in the so-called mystical marriage), while St John the Baptist draws the scene to the viewer’s attention.  St Catherine is depicted with the wheel and palm of her martyrdom, and the fictive relief at the base of the throne depicts her disputation before the Emperor. 

Madonna and Child with saints (1597)

This altarpiece in Santa Maria della Vittoria, [which is dated by inscription], is attributed to Giovanni Maria Baldassini.  It depicts the Madonna and Child enthroned, with two angels holding a crown above the head of the Madonna.  The baby Jesus offers a cord symbolising poverty to St Francis, while St Ubaldus meditates on the scene.  These saints kneel in a landscape, at the centre of which is the scene of St Francis making peace with the wolf of Gubbio.



Ceiling Decoration (1601)

Giovanni Maria Baldassini was working on the coffered ceiling of Santa Croce della Foce at the time of his death in 1601.  The project marked the completion of the 16th century remodelling.  The ceiling is decorated with painted symbols of the Passion. 

Gualdo Tadino

Tobias and the Angel (1586)

This altarpiece by Giovanni Maria Baldassini is in the Duomo (San Benedetto).


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