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The first exhibition dedicated to Lorenzo Monaco, leading protagonist of late gothic painting in Italy, one well known and respected by specialists, but still awaiting proper consecration among the vast public of today.

The exhibition will be held from May 9, 2006 until September 24, 2006, Accademia Gallery, Florence.

The exhibition in Accademia Gallery will represent the entire span of activity of this extraordinary Camaldolese monk and artist which, for its human and artistic story, directly anticipates that of the other great friar and painter, Beato Angelico, one of the founding fathers of the Florentine Renaissance. This role can also be rightly attributed to the Lorenzo Monaco who principally concerned himself with “piloting” late 14th-century painting with a Giottesque derivation to the ideals of nascent Humanism in its version closer to Christianity. The exhibition will also present several masterpieces by the two latter artists as points of departure to underline the main stages in the artistic development of the Camaldolese artist. Moreover, the exhibition will bring forth, especially for the benefit of the general public, the quality of the workmanship that characterizes the paintings on wood by Lorenzo Monaco: the prodigious refinement of drawing, the proverbial elegance of his characters, his extraordinarily brilliant and luminous colors.

The rich exhibition catalogue will represent a foothold in studies on this fundamental artist of Italian late gothic culture, and will definitely enlarge on his contribution to the artistic developments in one of the most fascinating periods of Italian art.

Lorenzo Monaco

Lorenzo Monaco, born Piero di Giovanni (1370-1425), was a Florentine painter worked with full awareness in one of the most vital and creative periods in Italian art history. He joined the Camaldolese monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Florence in 1391. His work shows the influence of the International Gothic style of the late 14th century, as well as that of the Sienese school.

Giorgio Vasari includes a biography of Lorenzo Monaco in his "Lives".

For more information visit

• Firenze 2006
• Firenze 2007