Orcagna

Orcagna, whose real name was Andrea di Cione and his nickname ARCAGNUOLO ('archangel'), corrupted into Orcagna, was a painter, sculptor, and architect, as well as a maker of poems. Born, about 1316, the son of a Florentine worker in silver, he was early imbued with artistic tastes. Sculpture he learned in the studio of Andrea Pisano, and in painting was helped by an elder brother. In 1355 he was appointed architect to the church of Or San Michele in his native city; his greatest artistic triumph exists in the marble tabernacle in this church. 'This, in its combined splendour of architectural design, sculptured reliefs and statuettes, and mosaic enrichments, is one of the most important and beautiful works of art which even rich Italy possesses. It combines an altar, a shrine, a reredos, and a baldacchino' (Middleton). From 1358 to 1360 he was chief architect of the cathedral at Orvieto, for which he designed some mosaic pictures. In Florence he planned a mint, piers in the cathedral, and other works. His earliest achievement with the painter's brush was to execute, in conjunction with his elder brother Nardo, several frescoes in the church of Santa Maria Novella at Florence. Some of these have perished; but a 'Last Judgment' and 'Christ and the Virgin enthroned in Heaven' still survive, though greatly restored. Other frescoes in the cemetery at Pisa that were attributed to Orcagna are now believed to have been by a painter or painters of the Sienses school. Orcagna painted several panel pictures, including a retable for the altar in the Strozzì chapel of Santa Maria Novella; another for the church of San Pietro Maggiore in Florence, now in the National Gallery, London; an altarpiece in the chapel of the Medici (Santa Croce), Florence; and 'St Zenobius Enthroned,' in the cathedral of Florence. Orcagna's death is usually given as 1389; but 1376 seems a more likely date, or even 1368. See the article by Professor J. H. Middleton in Ency. Brit.; and Crowe and Cavalcaselle, Painting in Italy, vol. i. (1864).