View source for Benozzo Gozzoli

{{Short description|Italian painter (c. 1421–1497)}}
{{Infobox artist
| name = Benozzo Gozzoli
| image = Benozzo Gozzoli.jpg
| caption = Self-portrait from fresco ''Procession of the Magi''
| birth_name = Benozzo di Lese
| birth_date = {{circa|1421}}
| birth_place = [[Scandicci|Sant'Ilario a Colombano]], [[Republic of Florence]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1497|10|4|1421|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Pistoia]], Republic of Florence
| nationality = Florentine
| movement = [[Italian Renaissance painting#Early Renaissance painting|Early Renaissance]]
| field = [[Painting]], [[fresco]]
}}

'''Benozzo Gozzoli''' ({{IPA|it|beˈnɔttso ˈɡɔddzoli, – ˈɡɔttsoli|pron}}; born '''Benozzo di Lese''';{{efn|name=Gozzoli}} {{circa|lk=no|1421}}{{snd}}4 October 1497) was an [[Italian Renaissance painter]] from [[Florence]]. A pupil of [[Fra Angelico]], Gozzoli is best known for a series of murals in the [[Magi Chapel]] of the [[Palazzo Medici|Palazzo Medici-Riccardi]], depicting festive, vibrant processions with fine attention to detail and a pronounced [[International Gothic]] influence. The chapel's [[fresco]] cycle reveals a new [[Renaissance]] interest in nature with its realistic depiction of landscapes and vivid human portraits. Gozzoli is considered one of the most prolific fresco [[painters]] of his generation. While he was mainly active in [[Tuscany]], he also worked in [[Umbria]] and [[Rome]].<ref name=ox>Ailsa Turner. "Gozzoli, Benozzo." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 7 June 2016</ref>

==Biography==

===Apprenticeship===
Gozzoli was born Benozzo di Lese,{{efn|name=Gozzoli|The nickname ''Gozzoli'' does not appear in any documents; [[Giorgio Vasari]] recorded it in his second edition of the ''[[Vite]]'' (1568).}} son of a tailor, in the village of [[Sant'Ilario a Colombano]] around 1421. His family moved to nearby [[Florence]] in 1427. According to the 16th century Italian biographer [[Giorgio Vasari]], Gozzoli was a pupil and assistant of [[Fra Angelico]] in the early part of his career.

Gozzoli assisted Fra Angelico in the execution of fresco decorations in the dormitory cells of the [[San Marco, Florence|Convent of San Marco]] in Florence. Established contributions here include ''[[:File:Angelico, affresco s. marco, adorazione dei magi cella 39.jpg|The Adoration of the Magi]]'' in [[Cosimo de' Medici's cell]] and the ''[[:File:Benozzo Gozzoli - Women at the Tomb (detail) - WGA10210.jpg|Women at the Tomb]]'' in a larger depiction of the ''Resurrection of Christ'' in cell 8. Like many other Early Renaissance painters, Benozzo was initially trained as a goldsmith as well as a painter.

Between 1444 and 1447, he was therefore able to collaborate with [[Lorenzo Ghiberti]] on the famous [[:File:Florenca146.jpg|Gates of Paradise]] of the [[Florence Baptistery]]. [[File:Benozzo Gozzoli cat01.jpg|thumb|261x261px|''Madonna and Child Giving Blessings'', Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, Rome, 1449 (also attributed to Fra Angelico)|left]]

On 23 May 1447, Benozzo was with Fra Angelico in [[Rome]], to where they were called by [[Pope Eugene IV]] to carry out fresco decorations in a chapel in the [[Vatican Palace]]. This chapel was later demolished, so nothing of these works remains. He then accompanied Fra Angelico to [[Umbria]], where they decorated [[c:Category:San Brizio Chapel - Fra Angelico's and Gozzoli's frescos|a chapel vault]] in the ''Chapel of the Madonna di San Brizio'' in the [[Orvieto Cathedral]].

Due to political complications in the city, they completed only two of the four vault webs and were again summoned to the Vatican, where the pair worked for [[Nicholas V]] in the [[Niccoline Chapel]] until June 1448. Gozzoli is assumed to have made significant contributions in [[c:Category:Cappella Niccolina frescos|the chapel's frescoes]]. Furthermore, the attribution of a 1449 ''Madonna and Child'' ''Giving Blessings'' in the church of [[Santa Maria sopra Minerva]] is disputed between Gozzoli and Fra Angelico. In Rome, Gozzoli also executed a fresco of ''[[:File:Saint Anthony of Padua, fresco Benozzo Gozzoli, Church Santa Maria in Aracoeli, Rome, Italy.jpg|St Anthony of Padua]]'' in the [[Basilica of Santa Maria in Ara Coeli|Basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli]].{{citation needed|date=November 2021}}

Both Fra Angelico and Lorenzo Ghiberti were to influence much of Gozzoli's work for the rest of his life. From Ghiberti he learned precision in depicting the finest details and how to illustrate a story vividly, while from Fra Angelico, he took his bright color palette, transferring it to the art of fresco painting.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.abcgallery.com/G/gozzoli/gozzolibio.html|title=Benozzo Gozzoli Biography|last=|first=|date=|website=Olga's Gallery|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=November 9, 2017}}</ref>

===In Umbria===
[[File:Benozzo Gozzoli - Scenes from the Life of St Francis (Scene 11, south wall) - WGA10242.jpg|thumb|258x258px|''Scenes from the Life of St Francis'', Museum Complex of [[San Francesco, Montefalco]], 1452]]
In 1449, Gozzoli left Fra Angelico and moved to Umbria. In the hilltown of [[Narni]] there is an ''Annunciation'' from 1450, signed OPU[S] BENOT[I] DE FLORENT[IA]. In the monastery of San Fortunato, near [[Montefalco]], Gozzoli painted a ''[[:File:Gozzoli z01.jpg|Madonna and Child between St. Francis and St. Bernardine of Siena]]'', and three other works. One of these, the altarpiece ''[[:File:Benozzo gozzoli, madonna della cintola, 01.JPG|Madonna of the Girdle]]'', is now in the [[Vatican Museums]] and shows the affinity of Benozzo's early style to Fra Angelico's.

In 1450, Gozzoli received his first major independent commission from the monastery of S. Francesco in Montefalco. There, he filled the choir chapel with three registers of episodes from the life of [[St Francis of Assisi]] and various accessories, including portrait heads of [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]], [[Petrarch]] and [[Giotto di Bondone|Giotto]]. These [[c:Category:Scenes from the Life of St Francis by Benozzo Gozzoli|works]] were completed in 1452, and are still marked by the style of Angelico, crossed here and there with a more distinctly [[Giotto di Bondone|Giottesque]] influence.<ref>[http://www.museobenozzogozzoli.it/opere/CicloAffreschiStorieSanFrancesco.html History of the chapel of the Choir of San Francesco, and its frescoes] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304041340/http://www.museobenozzogozzoli.it/opere/CicloAffreschiStorieSanFrancesco.html |date=2016-03-04 }} with depictions and descriptions of all the scenes.</ref> In the same church, in the chapel of [[Saint Jerome]], there is a fresco by Gozzoli of the ''Virgin and Saints'', the ''[[Crucifixion]]'' and other subjects.

Gozzoli probably remained at Montefalco (with an interval at [[Viterbo]]) until 1456, employing [[Pier Antonio Mezzastris]] as an assistant. Then, he went to [[Perugia]] and painted a ''Virgin and Saints'' that is now in the local academy.

=== Return to Florence ===
[[Image:Gozzoli magi.jpg|325x325px|thumb|''Journey of the Magi (East Wall)'', [[Magi Chapel]] of [[Palazzo Medici|Palazzo Medici-Riccardi]], [[Florence]], 1459–1461]]
That same year, Benozzo returned to his native city Florence, the epicenter of ''Quattrocento'' art. Between 1459 and 1461, Gozzoli painted what may be considered his most important works, the frescoes in the [[Magi Chapel]] of the [[Palazzo Medici-Riccardi]]. There, in his ''Journey of the Magi to Bethlehem'' and ''Angels in Adoration'', he mastered a combination of complexity and subtlety, portraying a wealthy scene that encompasses realistic depictions of nature and vivid human portraits. In his ''[[Magi Chapel|Journey of the Magi]]'', Gozzoli incorporated numerous portraits of his [[Medici]] patrons, their allies and prominent contemporary figures. Furthermore, he also included his self-portrait in the procession, with his name written around the rim of his cap. [[Image:Palaio.jpg|thumb|''The Middle King'', widely believed to represent John VIII [[Magi Chapel]] of [[Palazzo Medici|Palazzo Medici-Riccardi]], [[Florence]], 1459–1461|201x201px|left]]
His frescoes in the Magi Chapel brought Gozzoli a great amount of fame and ensured him of new important commissions. One of these was an altarpiece for the Confraternity of the Purification in Florence, originally housed in the Convent of San Marco. The ''Virgin and Child Enthroned among Angels and Saints'' that he produced between 1461 and 1462 for this occasion is now housed in the [[National Gallery, London]].<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Gozzoli, Benozzo|volume=12|last= Rossetti | first= William Michael |author-link= William Michael Rossetti |pages=305-306|short=1}} This has additional references:
*Vasari, [[Joseph Archer Crowe|Crowe]] and [[Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle|Cavalcaselle]], and the other ordinary authorities, can be consulted as to the career of Gozzoli.
* A separate ''Life'' of him, by H. Stokes, was published in 1903 in Newne's Art library.</ref>

===Late years in Tuscany===

==== San Gimignano ====
In 1463, likely in fear of the plague, Gozzoli left Florence for [[Collegiata di San Gimignano|San Gimignano]], where he executed some extensive works. Most prominent of these is his seventeen-panel [[fresco]] cycle on ''The Life of [[Augustine of Hippo|St Augustine]]'', covering the entire apsidal chapel in the church of [[Sant'Agostino Church, San Gimignano|Sant'Agostino]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.abcgallery.com/G/gozzoli/SantAgostino_chapel.html|title=Apsidal Chapel of Sant'Agostino in San Gimignano, Italy.|last=|first=|date=|website=Olga's Gallery|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=November 9, 2017}}</ref> In that same church Gozzoli also completed a composition of ''St. Sebastian Protecting the City from the Plague'', in which he depicted [[Saint Sebastian|St. Sebastian]] fully clothed and unhurt, thereby going against iconographic canon. In 1465, at the town's heart in the [[Collegiate Church of San Gimignano|Collegiate Church of Santa Maria Assunta]], Gozzoli furthermore painted a fresco of the ''[[:File:SG Martyrdom of St Sebastian, Benozzo Gozzoli.JPG|Martyrdom of Sebastian]]''. He stayed in San Gimignano until 1467, completing some further works in the city and its vicinity.

==== Pisa ====
[[File:Presentation_of_Christ_in_the_Temple,_Benozzo_Gozzoli,_1460-1461_(Philadelphia_Museum_of_Art).jpg|thumb|right|''[[Purification of the Virgin (Gozzoli)|Purification of the Virgin]]'', Benozzo Gozzoli, 1460–1461 ([[Philadelphia Museum of Art]])]]
In 1469, Gozzoli moved to Pisa and began working on his most extensive commission: the vast series of mural paintings in the [[Camposanto Monumentale|Campo Santo]] edifice of [[Pisa]]. There, he depicted twenty-four subjects from the [[Old Testament]], ranging from the ''Invention of Wine by Noah'' to the ''Visit of the [[Queen of Sheba]] to [[Solomon]]''. He was contracted to paint three subjects per year for about ten ducats each. It appears, however, that this contract was not strictly adhered to, for the actual rate of painting was only three pictures in two years. Perhaps the great multitude of figures and accessories was accepted as a set-off against the slower rate of production.

By January 1470 he had executed the fresco of ''Noah and his Family'', followed by the ''Curse of Ham'', the ''Building of the [[Tower of Babel]]'' (which contains portraits of [[Cosimo de' Medici]], the young [[Lorenzo de' Medici|Lorenzo]], [[Angelo Poliziano]] and others), the ''Destruction of [[Sodom and Gomorrah|Sodom]]'', the ''Victory of Abraham'', the ''Marriages of Rebecca and of Rachel'', the ''Life of Moses'', etc. In the Cappella Ammannati, facing a gate of the Campo Santo, he also painted an ''[[Adoration of the Magi in Art|Adoration of the Magi]]'', wherein appears a portrait of himself.

All this enormous mass of work, in which Benozzo was probably assisted by [[Zanobi Machiavelli]], was performed, in addition to several other pictures during his stay in Pisa (including the ''Glory of [[St. Thomas Aquinas]]'', now in the Louvre), in sixteen years, lasting up to 1485. This is the latest date which can with certainty be assigned to any work from his hand. Gozzoli died in [[Pistoia]] in 1497, perhaps of a pestilence.

In 1478, as a token of their regard, the Pisan authorities had given him a tomb in the Campo Santo. He likewise had a house of his own in Pisa, and houses and land in Florence.<ref name="EB1911" />

== Trivia ==
* The painters Francesco, Gerolamo, and [[Alesso di Benozzo]] were his sons and assisted him on various commissions. 
* The ''Master of the Small Figures'' identified by [[Roberto Longhi|Longhi]] is the same painter called ''Alunno di Benozzo'' (pupil of Benozzo) by [[Bernard Berenson|Berenson]]. The name is based on stylistic grounds.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=6vh8kwpZmwoC The Samuel H. Kress Study Collection at the University of Missouri], by Norman E. Land, page 29-33.</ref>

== Works ==
[[File:Sant'Orsola.jpg|thumb|356x356px|''St. Ursula'', [[National Gallery of Art]], 1455–1460]]
*''[[:File:Benozzo Gozzoli - Women at the Tomb (detail) - WGA10210.jpg|Women at the Tomb]]'' (1440–1441) –<small> Fresco, [[San Marco, Florence|San Marco]], Florence</small>
*''[[:File:Angelico, affresco s. marco, adorazione dei magi cella 39.jpg|Adoration of the Magi]]'' (1440–1441) –<small> Fresco, [[San Marco, Florence|San Marco]], Florence</small>
*[[:File:Florenca146.jpg|Gates of Paradise]] (1444–1447, collaboration) –<small> Gilded bronze doors, [[Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (Florence)|Museo dell'Opera del Duomo]], Florence</small>
*[[c:Category:San Brizio Chapel - Fra Angelico's and Gozzoli's frescos|Chapel of the Madonna di San Brizio]] (1447, collaboration) –<small> Fresco, [[Orvieto Cathedral]], [[Orvieto]]</small>
*[[Niccoline Chapel]] (1447–1449, collaboration) –<small> Fresco, [[Apostolic Palace]], [[Vatican City]]</small>
*[https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/probably-by-benozzo-gozzoli-the-virgin-and-child-with-angels ''The Virgin and Child with Angels''] (1447–1450) –<small> Tempera on wood, 29.2 x 21.6&nbsp;cm, [[National Gallery]], [[London]] </small>
*[[:Image:Benozzo Gozzoli cat01.jpg|''Madonna and Child Giving Blessings'']] (1449) –<small> Tempera on silk on a wooden mount, 254 x 130&nbsp;cm, [[Santa Maria sopra Minerva]], [[Rome]] </small>
*''[[:File:Saint Anthony of Padua, fresco Benozzo Gozzoli, Church Santa Maria in Aracoeli, Rome, Italy.jpg|St. Anthony of Padua]]'' (1450) –<small> Panel, [[Santa Maria in Aracoeli]], Rome</small>
*''[[:File:Gozzoli z01.jpg|Madonna and Child between St Francis and St Bernardine of Siena]]'' (1450) –<small> Fresco, San Fortunato, [[Montefalco]]</small>
*''St Fortunatus Enthroned'' (1450) –<small> Fresco, 200 x 110&nbsp;cm, San Fortunato, Montefalco</small>
*''Madonna and Child'' (1450) –<small> Fresco, 250 x 135&nbsp;cm, San Fortunato, Montefalco</small>
*''[[:File:Benozzo gozzoli, madonna della cintola, 01.JPG|Madonna of the Girdle]]'' (1450–1452) –<small> Tempera on panel, 133 x 164&nbsp;cm, [[Vatican Museum|Pinacoteca Vaticana]], Vatican City</small>
*''Madonna and Child Surrounded by Saints'' (1452) –<small> Fresco, Cappella di San Gerolamo, San Francesco, Montefalco</small>
*''The Departure of St Jerome from Antioch'' (1452) –<small> Fresco, Cappella di San Gerolamo, San Francesco, Montefalco</small>
*''St Jerome Pulling a Thorn from a Lion's Paw'' (1452) –<small> Fresco, Cappella di San Gerolamo, San Francesco, Montefalco </small>
*''Madonna and Child with Sts Francis and Bernardine, and Fra Jacopo ''({{circa|lk=no|1452}}) –<small> Tempera on panel, 34 x 54&nbsp;cm, [[Kunsthistorisches Museum]], [[Vienna]]</small>
*''Madonna and Child with Sts John the Baptist, Peter, Jerome, and Paul'' (1456) –<small> Tempera on panel, 122 x 212&nbsp;cm, [[Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria]], [[Perugia]]</small>
*''[[Procession of the Magi (Benozzo Gozzoli)|Procession of the Magi]]'' (1459–1460) –<small> Frescoes, [[Magi Chapel]], [[Palazzo Medici Riccardi]], Florence</small>
*''Madonna and Child'' ({{circa|lk=no|1460}}) –<small> Tempera on panel, 84.8 x 50.6&nbsp;cm, [[Detroit Institute of Arts]], [[Detroit]]</small>
*''The Virgin and Child Enthroned among Angels and Saints'' (1461–1462) –<small> Tempera on panel, 161.9 x 170.2&nbsp;cm, National Gallery, London</small>
*''St. Dominic Reuscitates Napoleone Orsini'' (1461) –<small> Tempera on panel, 25 x 35&nbsp;cm, [[Pinacoteca di Brera]], [[Milan]]</small>
[[File:Benozzo Gozzoli - Saints Nicholas of Tolentino, Roch, Sebastian, and Bernardino of Siena, with Kneeling Donors.jpg|thumb|280x280px|''Saints with Kneeling Donors'', [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], 1481]]
*''Fall of Simon Magus'' (1461–1462) –<small> Tempera on panel, 24 x 35,5&nbsp;cm, [[Royal Collection]], [[Hampton Court Palace]], London</small>
*''The Dance of Salome'' (1461–1462) –<small> Tempera on panel, 23.8 x 34.3&nbsp;cm, [[National Gallery of Art]], [[Washington, D.C.]]</small>
*''Histories of St. Augustine'' (1464–1465) –<small> Frescoes, [[Sant'Agostino Church, San Gimignano|Sant'Agostino]], [[San Gimignano]]</small>
*''Four Evangelists'' (1464–1465) –<small> Fresco, Sant'Agostino, San Gimignano</small>
*''Saints'' (1464–1465) –<small> Frescoes, Sant'Agostino, San Gimignano</small>
*''[[St. Sebastian (Benozzo Gozzoli)|St. Sebastian Intercessor]]'' (1464–1466) –<small> Fresco, 527 x 248&nbsp;cm, Sant'Agostino, San Gimignano</small>
*''Martyrdom of St Sebastian'' (1465) –<small> Tempera on panel, 525 x 378&nbsp;cm, [[Collegiate Church of San Gimignano|Collegiate Church]], San Gimignano</small>
*''[[Mystical Marriage of St. Catherine]]'' (1466) –<small> Tempera on panel, 90 x 50&nbsp;cm, Palazzo Gazzoli, Pinacoteca Comunale, [[Terni]]</small>
*''Madonna and Child between Sts. Andrew and Prosper'' (''[[Madonna dell'Umiltà]]''; 1466) –<small> Tempera on panel, 137 x 138&nbsp;cm, Museo Civico, San Gimignano</small>
*''Triumph of St. Thomas Aquinas'' (1471) –<small> Tempera on panel, 230 x 102&nbsp;cm, [[Louvre]], [[Paris]]</small>
*''The Vintage and Drunkenness of Noah'' (1469–1484) –<small> Fresco, [[Camposanto Monumentale|Campo Santo]], [[Pisa]]</small>
*''Histories of the Holy Virgin'', Tabernacle with the ''Madonna della Tosse'' (1484) –<small> [[Transfer of panel paintings|Transferred frescoes]], Museo Benozzo Gozzoli di [[Castelfiorentino]]</small>
*''[[Deposition of Christ (Gozzoli)|Deposition of Christ]]'' (1491) – <small>Also called ''Descent from the Cross''. Oil on canvas, 180 x 300&nbsp;cm, [[Museo Horne]], Florence.</small>

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{more footnotes|date=February 2014}}
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
*[[Dale Kent]], ''Cosimo de' Medici and the Florentine Renaissance'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000).
*[[Franco Cardini]], ''The Chapel of the Magi in Palazzo Medici'' (Firenze: Mandragora, 2001).
*[[Roger J. Crum]], "Roberto Martelli, the [[Council of Florence]], and the Medici Palace Chapel", ''Zeitschrift & Kunstgeschichte'', 59 (1996).
* Benozzo Gozzoli a San Gimignano, a cura di Gerardo de Simone, Cristina Borgioli, exhib. catal. (San Gimignano, Pinacoteca & Museo d’Arte Sacra, 18 June-1 November 2016), Firenze, Giunti, 2016

==External links==
{{wikisourcepar|Century Magazine/Volume 39/Issue 1/Old Italian Masters. Benozzo Gozzoli|an overview of Gozzoli's life and work}}
*{{Commons-inline}}
*[http://www46.homepage.villanova.edu/john.immerwahr/aug.htm Life of St. Augustine Frescoes with Narrative Explanation]
*[http://www.museobenozzogozzoli.it Museo Benozzo Gozzoli] in [[Castelfiorentino]] ("BeGo") 
*[https://museologyreviews.ldminstitute.com/bego-museo-benozzo-gozzoli-di-castelfiorentino/ Revue of the BeGO] in the Floremtine ''Museology Review'' by Giulia Bertelli, Oct. 13, 2017.
*[https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.1355.html Benozzo Gozzoli at the National Gallery of Art]
*{{OL author|4326777A}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gozzoli, Benozzo}}
[[Category:1420s births]]
[[Category:1497 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Scandicci]]
[[Category:Italian Renaissance painters]]
[[Category:Painters from Florence]]
[[Category:Quattrocento painters]]
[[Category:Italian Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Italian male painters]]
[[Category:15th-century people from the Republic of Florence]]
[[Category:15th-century Italian painters]]
[[Category:Catholic painters]]
[[Category:Date of birth unknown]]