Castagno, Andrea del (c. 1421-1457)

A portrait of the Italian poet and Renaissance humanist Francesco Petrarch, by Andrea del Castagno (1421-1457).

Italian Renaissance painter, active in Florence. His work, which develops from that of Masaccio, is powerful and sculptural in effect, showing clear outlines and an interest in foreshortening. His David (c. 1450-57; National Gallery, Washington, DC) is typical.

He was called Castagno after Castagno San Godenzo, the town where he spent his early life. He attracted the notice of Bernardetto de' Medici (1393-1465), who took him to Florence, where he mainly worked, though he stayed in Venice for a time and painted frescoes at San Zaccaria. The Convent of Sant'Apollonia, now a Castagno museum, has major works in fresco including his Last Supper, Crucifixion, and the series of famous men and women, in which the writers Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio figure (originally a decoration for the Villa Carducci Pandalfini at Legnaia). In these frescoes he followed Masaccio's lead in adapting the pictorial space, with its carefully constructed linear perspective, to the architectural framework of the building. The figures have a sculptural quality and grandeur that derives in part from Donatello. Castagno died of the plague in Florence. Despite his short life, he was widely influential.

Among his few other works are the equestrian portrait of Nicolò da Tolentino in the Cathedral of Florence, an Assumption (Berlin), a Crucifixion (National Gallery, London), and stained glass in Florence Cathedral.