Dictionary of


Art  &  Artist



 

Macrino d'Alba

 

Alba Macrino d’ [Alladio, Gian Giacomo d’]

(b Alba; fl 1495–1515; d before 1528). Italian painter. Inscriptions on his altarpieces indicate he was born in Alba. He probably trained elsewhere; his early works, with the exception of the portrait of Andrea Novelli, Bishop of Alba (Isola Bella, Mus. Borromeo), cannot be traced to a precise location. His patrons were mainly from the Paleologo court at Casale Monferrato, where he was the official painter. His earliest signed and dated work is the triptych of the Virgin Enthroned between SS John the Evangelist, James the Greater, John the Baptist and Thomas Aquinas and Two Donors (1495; Turin, Mus. Civ. A. Ant.), and it and the Virgin and Child between SS Nicholas and Martin (Rome, Pin. Capitolina) show the influence of Lombard painters, particularly Ambrogio Bergognone; some writers have suggested that this may indicate a journey through central Italy, perhaps to Rome.

The Adoration of the Shepherds
1509

Virgin & Child with Ss. Nicholas & Martin
Musei Capitolini

Self-portrait