Barnaba
da Modena
ca.1330-1386
Italian Painter
b Modena; fl 1361–83). Italian painter.
Although a native of Modena (Emilia), he was first recorded as a Genoese
citizen, hiring Tuscan assistants in 1361 and 1362. He was paid for
paintings for the Palazzo Ducale, Genoa, in 1364; a Virgin and Child
(1367; Frankfurt am Main, Städel. Kstinst.), signed in Janua, is
thought to be by him. His earliest certain painting is the damaged
polyptych of the Virgin and Child with Saints (Genoa, Pal. Bianco),
signed, unlike later works, in capital letters. Its frame awkwardly
combines the light Gothic arcading of Tuscan polyptychs with the
continuous contour and simple gables of Emilian design. The
incongruities of figure scale, the blackish undertone to the flesh
painting and the small features and tall cranium of the Child all derive
from Venetian painting, while the careful modelling of Mary’s eyes and
puckered lips show the influence of the Lorenzetti brothers and their
Sienese followers. Another Virgin and Child (Boston, MA, Mus. F.A.)
by Barnaba reflects Sienese painting in its rounded faces and
gold-striated highlights on Mary’s mantle. His small Virgin and
Crucifixion (Modena, Gal. & Mus. Estense) and the St Bartholomew
altarpiece (Genoa, S. Bartolomeo del Fossato), with simple architectural
settings, brilliant colours and delicate goldwork, are probably from the
1360s.
