Nicolaus Pictor - Artists and workshops in Quattrocento Foligno

A major exhibition featuring Foligno’s leading Renaissance painter, Nicolò di Liberatore (1430 - 1502) that has brought together a number of works scattered all over Umbria, some of which have never been shown together in an exhibition.



Gathered from the region’s churches and museums, several of the works present at this exhibition were last seen together at the 1907 exhibition of ancient Umbrian art held in Perugia. The Italian title of the exhibition, which runs until October 3rd 2004 at Palazzo Trinci, in Piazza della Repubblica, Foligno, is Nicolaus Pictor - Nicolò di Liberatore detto l'Alunno - Artisti e botteghe a Foligno nel Quattrocento. But as well as the main show Palazzo Trinci there is an interesting itinerary featuring l’Alunno’s works unmovable completed on site in the surrounding area. The movable works present by this artist in the region have almost all been carefully restored in recent years, under the supervision of the Soprintendenza dell’Umbria, and are still in excellent condition.

Information at Palazzo Trinci Museo della Città tel. 0742.357697, 0742.357989, e-mail cultura@comune.foligno.pg.it. Tickets: € 5 (reductions € 2.50: under-18s, over-65s, schools, members of certain cultural associations. Groups obtain a free entrance to the show every 10 people. Tickets on sale only at the ticket office of Palazzo Trinci.
With the same ticket visitors have access to the Pinacoteca of Palazzo Trinci, the Museo Archeologico, the Museo dell'Istituzione Comunale and the Museo Multimediale dei Tornei, delle Giostre e dei Giochi.

The Influence of Benozzo Gozzoli
Nicolò di Liberatore established his reputation as a painter of finely-crafted, large-scale polyptichs and banners, enjoying a success that enabled him to maintain sizeable workshop. Critics regard the artist’s greatest landmark as being the magnificent polyptich painted for the Collegiata di Montelpare in 1466, which is today in the Pinacoteca Vaticana. Nicolò was considerable influenced by the work of Benozzo Gozzoli and Angelico, particularly in his manner of painting landscape, which combines impressive magnificence with a remarkable freshness of touch.
The ornate details of the Montelpare polyptich were to exert a lasting influence on painters throughout Umbria and the Marches. But Nicolò’s style is regarded as having reached its fully fledged identity in the polyptich he painted for Villa Albani in Rome in 1475. In this work the figures are lent a thin, nervous proportion painted in minute detail, while the saints are arranged so as to enhance the impression of movement in the picture. Having reached these peaks of maturity and dominated the Umbrian and Marches artistic production for some fifty years, Nicolò seems to have remained largely in his native town with a small group of followers.

Curiosities
Nicolò di Liberatore da Foligno is known also as l’Alunno thanks to an erroneous reading by Vasari of the inscription on the base of the polyptich in the church of San Nicolò, where the painter signed himself “Alumnus Fulginiae”. Misinterpreting this term to mean “pupil”, Vasari nicknamed Nicolò “Alunno di Foligno”. The full inscription on the base, which is today in Paris, reads “Nicholaus Alumnus Fulginiae”, which translates correctly as “Nicolò citizen of Foligno”.


The Show Itinerary
Gualdo Tadino Museo Civico alla Rocca Flea: Polyptich of St Francis.
Information at Museo Rocca Flea tel. 075.916078. Open every day: Monday - Friday 10am-1pm and 3-7pm; Sundays, Saturdays and holidays 10am - 7pm.
Tickets: € 7 (reductions € 5).

Nocera Umbra Museo di San Francesco: Polyptich of the cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta.
Information at the Museo di San Francesco tel. 0742.818640, 0742.834011. Open every day except Mondays 10.30am-1pm and 4.30-7pm (only Saturdays and Sundays in October). Tickets: € 3 (reductions € 2).

Limigiano Abbey of Sant’Angelo: Martyrdom of St Sebastian.
Information at the Bestini family in Limigiano, who take care of the opening of the abbey, or at the Pro Loco Bevagna in Piazza F. Silvestri 1, tel. 0742.361667.

Spello Tega chapel: Crucifixion.
Information on opening hours from the family that lives opposite the building. Pro Loco tel. 0742.301009. 9am-7pm.

Assisi Museo del Capitolo della Cattedrale: Polyptich of St Rufino.
Information at the Museo della Cattedrale, tel. 347.8740224 or from the tourist service, tel. 075.812534, 075.812923. 10am-1pm and 3-6pm.
Tickets: € 3; reductions € 2.50.

Alviano Church of Santa Maria Assunta: Assumption of the Virgin.
Information at the Amelia region tourist service, tel. 0744.981453. 9am-12 noon and 5-7pm.

Lugnano in Teverina Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta: Assumption of the Virgin.
Information at the Amelia region tourist service, tel. 0744.981453. 9am-12 noon and 5-7pm.

Terni Pinacoteca Comunale: Banner of St Valentino.
Information at the Pinacoteca Comunale in Palazzo Gazzoli, Via del Teatro Romano tel. 0744.434209, 0744.434210 . Open every day except Mondays 10am-1pm and 4-7pm. Tickets: € 7 (reductions € 4).

Guided tours can be booked by calling 0742.357697 or 0742.357989.