Leandro Bassano

San Agustino in gloria e santi (San Geremia) Venice.

Leandro Bassano (June 10, 1557 – April 15, 1622), also called Leandro dal Ponte, Adoration of the Shepherds, oil on canvas, 135 x 100 cm, private collection.

Leandro Bassano (June 10, 1557 – April 15, 1622), also called Leandro dal Ponte, was an Italian artist from Bassano del Grappa, the younger brother of Francesco Bassano the Younger and third son of Jacopo Bassano, who took their name from their town of Bassano del Grappa. Leandro studied with his brother in their father's workshop, but took over the studio when Francesco opened a workshop in Venice. Leandro followed in the tradition of his father’s religious works, but also became well known as a portrait painter.

By around 1575, Leandro had become an important assistant to his father, with his brother relocated to Venice. It was his father’s will that Leandro carry on the studio in Bassano del Grappa. Though after his father died, his brother Francesco committed suicide and Leandro took up the studio in Venice. There he became a successful portraitist, working close to the influential style of the Venetian master, Tintoretto.

Leandro developed his style, taking in Venetian influence, furthering his fine drawing style. His approach to painting differed from his father’s in the use of "fine brushwork, with cool, light colours, smoothly applied in well-defined areas, unlike his father, who painted with dense and robust brushstrokes."^[1]

Painting by Bassano, depicts what was believed to be one of the four elements during the 16th Century, Earth.^[2] The Walters Art Museum.

His success grew substantially in Venice, even landing him a knighthood from the Doge of Venice Marino Grimani in 1595 about,^[3] and he spent the rest of his life in the city. With this, Leandro began to sign his name with the honorary, “Eques.”^[4] Much of his work is not clearly dated and his works have sometimes been confused with other artists. This is the case with his, Portrait of an Old Man in the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, which was once thought to be a work of Tintoretto.

In addition to his many portraits and religious pieces, Leandro painted secular, genre-like works, such as his, Concert, now in the Uffizi Gallery and his, Kitchen Scene, hung in the Indiana University Art Museum.

Selected works

Portraits

• Portrait of an Old Man, Oil in canvas, (Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest)^[5]
• Portrait of an Old Woman, Oil on canvas, (Hermitage Museum)
• Portrait of a Man, Oil on canvas, (Ringling Museum)
• Portrait of a Man, Oil on canvas, (Indianapolis Museum of Art)
• Portrait of a Man, Oil on canvas, (Art Gallery of Ontario)^[6]
• Portrait of a Widow at her Devotions, Oil on canvas, (Private collection)^[5]
• Penelope, Oil in canvas, (Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rennes)^[5]
• Procurator of San Marco or Portrait of Duke of Candia Giovanni Francesco Sagredo, Oil on canvas, (Ashmolean Museum)

Religious Works

• Angel,Oil on canvas, National Museum of Serbia, Belgrade
• Marriage at Cana, Oil on canvas, (The Louvre)
• Incredulity of St Thomas, Oil on canvas, (Hermitage Museum)
• Moses Striking the Rock, Oil on canvas, (The Louvre)^[5]
• Expulsion of the merchants of the Temple, Oil on canvas, (Museum of the fine arts, Lille)
• Carrying of the Cross, Oil on black slate, (Hermitage Museum)
• Christ at the house of Simon the Pharisee, Chalk on paper, (Fitzwilliam Museum)
• Last Supper
• Last Judgment, Oil on copper, (Birmingham Museum of Art)
• The Tower of Babel, Oil on canvas, (National Gallery, London)
• The Adoration of the Shepherds (after Jacopo Bassano), Chalk on paper, (National Galleries of Scotland)

Other

• La Riva degli Schiavoni, Oil on canvas, (Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando)
• Concert, Oil on canvas, (Uffizi Gallery)
• Kitchen Scene, Oil on canvas, (Indiana University Art Museum)
• Berenice, Oil on burlap, (Ca' Rezzonico)
• Fish market by the sea, circa 1578, Oil on canvas, (Musée des beaux-arts, Angoulême)
• Allegory of the Element Earth, circa 1580. The Walters Art Museum.

References

1. "Leandro Bassano", The Grove Dictionary of Art, 2007
2. "Allegory of the Element Earth". The Walters Art Museum.
3. C. Ridolfi, Le meraviglie dell'arte, overo le vite degl’illustri pittori veneti e dello Stato, II, Venetia, Gio. Battista Sgava, 1648 (ed. D.F. von Hadeln, Berlin 1914-1924), p. 166
4. "Leandro Bassano", Nicolas Pioch, WebMuseum, Paris, 2007
5. "Web Gallery of Art, searchable fine arts image database".
6. http://www.ago.net/info/collection/provenance/display.cfm?spoil_id=41

External link

Media related to Leandro Bassano at Wikimedia Commons