Taddeo Gaddi ~ Biography
Active 1300-1366
Taddeo Gaddi was an Italian painter and architect, influential to the early Renaissance. As a painter, he created altar-pieces and murals and is primarily noted as a pupil and follower of Giotto (1267 – 1337). He often assisted Giotto, where Cennino Cennini (1370 – 1440), a pupil of Taddeo’s son Agnolo, referred to Taddeo as Giotto's godson and claimed that their relationship lasted 24 years. Taddeo was the son of the Florentine Gothic artist, Gaddo Gaddi, and three of his four sons were also painters, Giovanni, Agnolo and Niccoló. As an architect, Taddeo is credited with the design of Florence’s Medieval Bridge over the Arno River, the Ponte Vecchio.
His early works, such as The Stigmatization of Saint Francis, painted between 1325 and 1330, are intimately close to Giotto’s style. Perhaps his most famous works are the series of frescoes depicting the lives of the Virgin and of Christ in the Giugni Chapel at Santa Croce in Florence, executed between 1328 and 1338. The Angelic Announcement to the Shepherds illustrates Taddeo's interest in light and its effects; his study of solar eclipses in particular would eventually lead to serious eye injury in 1339.
Taddeo’s piece in the Uffizi Gallery is a highly important work in understanding the artist, being one of his only signed and dated works, as well as providing example of the start of a stylistic departure from Giotto in later years. The painting depicts Saint Mary Magdalen and Saint Catherine at each side of the Virgin and Child on a throne, with the Segni Family Coat of Arms shown at the throne’s base. (Kren and Marx, Web Gallery of Art)
(This text is adapted from the www.wikipedia.org entry on Taddeo Gaddi, available under GNU Free Documentation License.)
Taddeo Gaddi was an Italian painter and architect, influential to the early Renaissance. As a painter, he created altar-pieces and murals and is primarily noted as a pupil and follower of Giotto (1267 – 1337). He often assisted Giotto, where Cennino Cennini (1370 – 1440), a pupil of Taddeo’s son Agnolo, referred to Taddeo as Giotto's godson and claimed that their relationship lasted 24 years. Taddeo was the son of the Florentine Gothic artist, Gaddo Gaddi, and three of his four sons were also painters, Giovanni, Agnolo and Niccoló. As an architect, Taddeo is credited with the design of Florence’s Medieval Bridge over the Arno River, the Ponte Vecchio.
His early works, such as The Stigmatization of Saint Francis, painted between 1325 and 1330, are intimately close to Giotto’s style. Perhaps his most famous works are the series of frescoes depicting the lives of the Virgin and of Christ in the Giugni Chapel at Santa Croce in Florence, executed between 1328 and 1338. The Angelic Announcement to the Shepherds illustrates Taddeo's interest in light and its effects; his study of solar eclipses in particular would eventually lead to serious eye injury in 1339.
Taddeo’s piece in the Uffizi Gallery is a highly important work in understanding the artist, being one of his only signed and dated works, as well as providing example of the start of a stylistic departure from Giotto in later years. The painting depicts Saint Mary Magdalen and Saint Catherine at each side of the Virgin and Child on a throne, with the Segni Family Coat of Arms shown at the throne’s base. (Kren and Marx, Web Gallery of Art)
(This text is adapted from the www.wikipedia.org entry on Taddeo Gaddi, available under GNU Free Documentation License.)
