Akademik

(active c. 1225-bef. 1236).

   One of the earliest Italian masters to be known by name. Berlinghiero was from Milan and is documented in Lucca, a banking community near Pisa, in 1225 where he established a family of painters that included his son Bonaventura Berlinghieri. His Crucifixion at the Lucca Pinacoteca (early 13th century) originally hung in the Monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli, Lucca, and is signed Berlingerius me pinxit (Berlinghiero painted me) at the base, denoting the renewed interest in the 13th century in celebrating individual achievement. On the apron, Mary points to Christ to indicate that he is the Savior and St. John rests his head on his right hand, a traditional gesture of grief. At the ends of the arms of the cross are the symbols of the four Evangelists, who related Christ's story, and above Christ is the Virgin Mary flanked by two angels. The panel is painted in the Maniera Greca style, and shows a Christus triumphans. Based on the figure types and stylistic elements of this work, a Virgin and Child at the Metropolitan Museum has also been attributed to Berlinghiero.