Maker/Artist
Starnina, Gherardo
Italian painter, ca. 1360-before 1413, active in Florence and Spain
Starnina was probably a pupil of Antonio Veneziano. He is first documented in 1387 in the records of the Compagnia di S. Luca (painters' guild) in Florence. Starnina was documented in Toledo, Spain in 1393, possibly with Antonio Veneziano, and in Valencia in the mid- and late 1390s. Documents indicate that he executed numerous commissions for frescoes and panel paintings in both towns, but no surviving works can be connected with certainty to these records. Various panels and frescoes by him survive in Italy and in museums around the world. There is ambiguity in the style of Starnina's works. He combines characteristics of Florentine painting, including depiction of three-dimensional space and figures, with elements of the Late Gothic style that he absorbed in Spain. Starnina probably played an important role in transmitting these Gothic forms to Florentine artists, including Lorenzo Monaco. Starnina was one of the most prolific and influential painters of his time in Florence, as is evident by the large number of works produced in his circle. His interest in issues regarding figural groupings and three-dimensional space anticipate the works of Masaccio. Starnina's work was long attributed to the anonymous Compagno di Agnolo Gaddi and to the anonymous Master of the Bambino Vispo. Many of the works formerly attributed to the Master of the Bambino Vispo are now believed to be by Starnina, but the entire oeuvre formerly attributed to the Master of the Bambino Vispo has generally not been identified with Starnina; thus some of this anonymous master's work are yet to be associated with a known artist. Starnina has also been linked to the works of the anonymous Gil Master (although these attributions are generally dismissed today). Italian painter, active Florence and Spain. Comment on works: Religious
