Ferrer Bassa
(1285 - 1348) |
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Murals, Frescos Art Work
| Name: |
Ferrer Bassa |
| Gender: |
Male |
| Place of Birth: |
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| Nationality: |
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| Birth: |
1285 |
| Death: |
1348 |
| Website: |
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| Past Auctions: |
Click Here |
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Quick Facts
| Known For: |
Murals, Frescos |
| Medium: |
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| Method: |
International Gothic painter of miniatures and frescoes, illuminator of manuscripts; smooth flowing lines, subtle use of color, expressive figures |
| Style: |
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| Fine Art Profession(s): |
Painting
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Biography
| Ferrer Bassa's only surviving paintings are a series of frescoes executed from 1345 to 1346 in the chapel of San Miguel in the Monastery of Pedralbes in Barcelona. The fresco comprises nearly thirty scenes, all of which are remarkable examples of the early International Gothic style: Christ Seated in Judgment and Three Women at the Tomb are two of the most notable. Nothing is known about Bassa's early life, but he is likely to have studied painting either in one of the Italian states or, more probably, in Avignon. Both were the artistic centers in which the Italian Gothic style of painting adopted by contemporary Florentine and Sienese painters flourished. Bassa absorbed these radical ideas. He was the first artist to incorporate them into Catalan painting, thus contributing to the development of the International Gothic style. From 1333 Bassa was living at the court of King Alfonso IV, illuminating manuscripts and traveling in Catalonia to paint various commissions in churches, royal chapels, and palaces. In April 1342 Alfonso IV's successor, Peter the Ceremonious, wrote to his wife Queen Maria of Navarre, asking her to send him "the extremely beautiful book of hours painted by Ferrer Bassa." He went on to write that the book was admired far and wide. The illuminations in The Book of Hours of Queen Maria of Navarre (c.1340) are replete with Italian Gothic influences, such as expressive figures, three-dimensional space, use of vivid color, and a sense of dramatic narrative that Bassa interpreted in an original way. He also portrayed new genres of subject matter such as the Madonna dell'Umiita, in which the Madonna suckles the baby Jesus. Bassa died of the Black Death in 1348, but his new style was continued and developed by his son Arnau. |
Samples of Work
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