Neri di Bicci (1419–1491) was an Italian painter active in his native Florence. A prolific painter of mainly religious themes, he studied under his father, Bicci di Lorenzo, who had in turn studied under his father, Lorenzo di Bicci. The three thus formed a lineage of great painters that began with Neri's grandfather.
Neri di Bicci's main works include a fresco of Saint John Gualbert Enthroned with Ten Saints (1455) for the church of San Pancrazio, Florence (now in the nearby church of Santa Trinita), an Annunciation (1464) for Santa Maria alla Campora (now in the Florentine Academy), two altarpieces (one dated 1452) in the Diocesan Museum of San Miniato, a Coronation of the Virgin (1472) on the high altar of the abbey church at San Pietro a Ruoti (Bucine), and the Madonna with Child with Four Female Saints (1474) on loan to the Sacred Art Museum in Casole d'Elsa from the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Siena.
Neri is most famous for his Ricordanze, a series of journals he kept from 1453 until 1475 in which he chronicled the numerous types of commissions he accepted (altarpieces, small devotional panels, frescoes, shop signs, candlesticks, painted sculpture, etc.) and the rates of remuneration for his work, as well as his pupils, collaborators and patrons. The Ricordanze are the most extensive such document from the fifteenth century. They are today preserved in the library of the Uffizi Gallery.Santi, B. (2003). Neri di Bicci. Grove Art Online. Retrieved 8 Dec. 2017, from http://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000061797 .
Early life When Neri was born in 1419, he was the third in line of the Bicci family of artists. His grandfather Lorenzo di Bicci was a contemporary of Jacopo di Cione and Niccolò di Pietro Gerini, and a prolific painter of altarpieces (Empoli, Collegiata di Sant'Andrea; Florence, Galleria dell'Accademia; Loro Ciuffena, Santa Maria Assunta), frescoes and small-scale devotional panels for domestic interiors (Baltimore, Walters Art Museum; Nashville, Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery; San Francisco, Legion of Honor; Rome, Museo di Palazzo Venezia). Neri's father and teacher, Bicci, was also an artist who was even more prolific than his father. Neri spent much of his youth in Bicci's workshop painting in a very similar style. In 1434, at the age of fifteen, Neri joined the Florentine painters' confraternity the Compagnia di San Luca.
Adult life Neri created works for all different social classes, ranging from the upper bourgeoisie to Florentine guild members, government offices, prominent local basilicas and humble provincial churches. His first documented work is from 1439, when he collaborated with his father on the trompe-l’oeil funerary monument to Luigi Marsili (1342–94) in Florence Cathedral. In 1440, Neri dated the Annunciation in San Angelo a Legnaia, in which he collaborated with his father.
By 1444, Neri was working more or less independently. An early work from this year is the triptych of the Virgin and Child Enthroned with Ten Saints for the chapel of the Villani family in Santissima Annunziata, Florence. The central panel of this altarpiece is now at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, while the side panels are at the Allen Memorial Art Museum of Oberlin College and the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence. It is clear in this work that Neri's style had evolved and moved away from the style of his father. The composition is perhaps inspired by the work of Fra Filippo Lippi, while the figures show similarities with the art of Paolo Schiavo. In 1447 Neri painted a predella, now lost, for the church of San Martino in Maiano.
Neri's father died in 1452, leaving Neri in charge of the workshop. Also in this year, Neri was commissioned to create a fresco cycle illustrating Scenes from the Life of Saint Giovanni Gualberto for the Spini family chapel in Santa Trìnita. The frescoes were specifically commissioned by Giovanni Spini and Salvestro Spini. The only part of this decoration that survives today is the Annunciation over the chapel's entrance arch. The Assumption of the Virgin originally on the altar in this chapel (Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada) shows the clear influence of Fra Angelico and Domenico Veneziano."Bicci, Neri di." Benezit Dictionary of Artists. 2011-10-31. Oxford University Press. Date of access 9 Dec. 2017, http://www.oxfordartonline.com/benezit/view/10.1093/benz/9780199773787.001.0001/acref-9780199773787-e-00019370
Works These two Archangel Raphael and Tobias pieces were most likely created one after the other. 1.1 was created in the workshop between 1457 and 1463, while 1.2 was created in the early 1460s. The subject of the Archangel was extremely popular in Florence in the 1460s, and artists such as Francesco Botticini and Piero del Pollaiuolo illustrated this bible story. Although some works similar to the two seen here can be attributed to Jacopo da Sellaio, a higher proportion are from Neri's workshop. 1.1 and 1.2 are clearly very similar in terms of style and the way the characters are arranged. They are both by Neri and were created in his shop, possibly with the help of some assistants. Both works feature the Archangel on the left looking back at Tobias while holding his hand. There is also a small white dog in both, and the Archangel is holding a box in his right hand. In 1.1, the chin, forehead, and hair of Tobias and the face of the Archangel have all been reinforced, and the fingers of the Archangel's right hand and Tobias's left hand are modern. The painting is overall covered with dirt and unevenly preserved, and only the subsidiary parts of the picture are well preserved. The box and upper part of the fish have also been regilt. 1.2 is considerably better preserved, but still covered in a discoloured varnish. The profile of Tobias had to be reinforced, and there was a hole above the right wing of the archangel that was filled. The gold leafing on the halo is worn down, but the gilding of the stars and aureole of Tobias is still intact.
The most prestigious commission of the 1450s period was a tabernacle that held a copy of Justinian's Digest in Greek. It was located in Sala dell’Udienza, in the Palazzo della Signoria and depicted Moses and the Four Evangelists, but was later destroyed. On 25 November 1459, Neri received a commission for an altarpiece depicting the Coronation of the Virgin with Eleven Saints, now located in the Acadamia of Florence, for the church of the monastery of Santa Felice. This work is notable due to the large scale of the piece and the number of characters represented. It illustrates an emblematic medieval background, and on top of that, Neri placed modern elements.
In 1933, it was published that the curator of the Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, Victor Lasareff, had identified two new panel paintings that were created by Neri di Bicci. The first painting identified is "Madonna della Cintola", which was formerly recorded as painted by an unknown artist. The Madonna della Cintola is in good condition and depicts the Madonna in the middle with Saint Julian and Saint Thomas on either side of her, along with a few other unidentifiable characters. The painting is created in a cold light and uses varied colours which are not blended, but each have their own bold separate colour. There are two artistic styles used on the faces of the characters. The Madonna and the angels, St. Julian, and St. Thomas have flat faces with only moderate use of light and shade. The rest have more “plastic” faces with sharply drawn wrinkles. This painting is most similar to Neri's "Santa Felicita with Her Seven Sons", which was created for the church of Santa Felicita in Florence in 1464 (1.3). Both feature characters who have big, separated ringlets in their hair. The second painting identified is "The Madonna with a Child holding a Pomegranate". It differs from the Madonna della Cintola in that it has much richer colours, especially the faces, which have a more pinkish yellow. The Madonna's face in particular has much more realistic shading and lighting, making her face look more rounded rather than flat. The paintings were able to be identified due to the unique artistic style of Neri, which, as seen in this painting, contains long, narrow eyes half covered by heavy eyelids, finely arched eyebrows, and long, thin fingers with square nails. Also, whenever Neri depicts a Madonna, she has an oval, elongated face. Neri also always creates robes in the same style, thickly laying on the paint and giving the impression that the robe is stiff, almost as if it were made of metal.Mseriantz, Maria. “Two New Panels by Neri Di Bicci.” The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, vol. 62, no. 362, 1933, pp. 222–228. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/865433.
On 6 August 1456, Neri di Bicci received a commission from Bartolomeo di Lucha Martini for an altarpiece of the Virgin and child with six saints. This commission has been identified with the painting now hanging in the chapel of St. James Cathedral in Seattle. It is one of the few works of Neri di Bicci in the United States. The painting underwent significant restoration at the Seattle Art Museum in 2004. The St. James Cathedral altarpiece depicts the Virgin and Child in the center, flanked by saints: Luke, Bartholomew, and Lawrence on the left, John the Baptist, Martin, and Sebastian on the right. The bent arm of the infant Christ is unusual in Neri di Bicci's work—the nursing infant reaches into his mother's blouse, suggesting the Virgin lactans, or nursing Virgin.
On 6 June 1460, Neri was commissioned by Bartolommeo Lenzi to create an altarpiece for the church of the Innocents. Neri chose to depict a Coronation of the Virgin with Saints. This panel was clearly inspired by works of Andrea del Castagno, with the figures portrayed as freer than normal and other stylistic similarities.