Editing Lo Spagna

{{Short description|Italian painter}}

[[File:LoSpagno z003.JPG|thumb|300px|''Fresco "Transporto di Cristo al sepolcro", Trevi, Chiesa della Madonna delle Lacrime, Cappella di S. Francesco – detail'']]

'''Lo Spagna''' (died ''c.'' 1529), "the Spaniard" in Italian, was a painter of the [[Renaissance]], active in central Italy. His name was '''Giovanni di Pietro''', but he was known as ''Lo Spagna'' because he was of Spanish heritage. He was an important assistant and follower of the [[Umbria]]n painter [[Pietro Perugino|Perugino]], whose style his paintings developed. He should not be confused with [[Pietro di Giovanni D'Ambrogio]] of [[Siena]].

Lo Spagna is known for a number of major works completed in the region, including the ''Birth of the Virgin'' from Spineta in [[Todi]],<ref>The ''Birth...'' is now in [[Pinacoteca Vaticana]].</ref> the ''Adoration of the Magi'' of [[Ferentillo]]<ref>The ''Adoration..'' is now in Berlin.</ref> and the ''Nativity'' of St Anthony in [[Perugia]].<ref>The ''Nativity'' is now in the Louvre.</ref> Lo Spagna married [[Santina Martorelli]] from one of [[Spoleto]]'s leading families and here he was nominated ''Capitano delle Arti dei Pittori e degli Orefici'' in 1517. He died in 1528, possibly of the plague.

Giovanni di Pietro completed the decoration of the apse and two chapels of the church of ''San Giacomo'' in [[Spoleto]]. The records indicate that some thirty inhabitants of the parish contributed payment for the work, which was completed in 1526. The apse vault is frescoed with the ''Coronation of the Virgin and St James'', while after Lo Spagna's death, the chapel frescoes were completed by pupils, [[Dono Doni]] and [[Cecco di Bernardino]] of Assisi. The ''Madonna and Child in Glory with St Sebastian and St Rocco'' on the far wall of the church of Campello sul Clitunno was completed by one of his pupils from a preparatory drawing by ''Lo Spagna''. The apse of the church of San Giovanni Battista in the small village of [[Eggi, Italy|Eggi]] contains a fresco completed by a hand from ''Lo Spagna''’s studio working from a drawing by the artist. For the church of San Martino, ''Lo Spagna'' completed the large altar-piece of ''Coronation of the Virgin'', (1522), which today hangs in the Museo Civico of [[Trevi, Umbria|Trevi]]. The church of ''Madonna delle Lacrime'' was ''Lo Spagna'' to complete the fresco decorations in the chapel dedicated to St Francis (1518). Around 1520 ''Lo Spagna'' decorated the first altar to the right of the church of Sant’Agostino in [[Visso]] with frescoes, now found in the ''Collegiata di Santa Maria''. ''Lo Spagna'' painted a fresco cycle for the parish church of ''San Michele Arcangelo'' in Gavelli, a hamlet in the township of [[Sant'Anatolia di Narco]] near Perugia.

The famous ''[[Marriage of the Virgin (Perugino)|Sposalizio]]'', or Marriage of Joseph and Mary, in the museum at [[Caen]], attributed to [[Perugino]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Le Mariage de la Vierge {{!}} Musée des beaux arts de Caen |url=https://mba.caen.fr/oeuvre/le-mariage-de-la-vierge |access-date=2025-02-04 |website=mba.caen.fr |language=fr}}</ref> has been credited to Lo&nbsp;Spagna by scholars in the past.{{citation needed|date=August 2017}} The [[Capitoline Museums]] in Rome now possess a series of life-sized fresco figures by him, representing ''[[Apollo]] and the [[muse|Nine Muses]]''. The [[National Gallery|National Gallery, London]], has three paintings by Lo Spagna, two small panels depicting ''Christ Carrying the Cross'' and ''Christ at Gethsemane'' that were once probably two wings of a portable altarpiece;<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lo Spagna {{!}} Christ carrying the Cross {{!}} NG6693 {{!}} National Gallery, London |url=https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/lo-spagna-christ-carrying-the-cross |access-date=2025-02-04 |website=www.nationalgallery.org.uk}}</ref> and a larger panel of ''The Agony in the Garden'', all dated to perhaps 1500-05.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Probably by Lo Spagna {{!}} The Agony in the Garden {{!}} NG1032 {{!}} National Gallery, London |url=https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/probably-by-lo-spagna-the-agony-in-the-garden |access-date=2025-02-04 |website=www.nationalgallery.org.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Lo Spagna {{!}} Christ at Gethsemane {{!}} NG1812 {{!}} National Gallery, London |url=https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/lo-spagna-christ-at-gethsemane |access-date=2025-02-04 |website=www.nationalgallery.org.uk}}</ref>

Lo Spagna had various pupils and followers, among them [[Bernardino Campilius]].<ref>{{cite book| first=Michael| last=Bryan| year=1886| title=Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, Biographical and Critical |volume=I: A-K |editor=Robert Edmund Graves |page=222| publisher=George Bell and Sons|location=London |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4GYCAAAAYAAJ }}</ref>

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:Lo Spagna - Vierge à l'Enfant.jpg|Madonna and Child (date unknown), the Louvre, Paris
File:Giovanni lo spagna, adorazione dei magi.JPG|Adoration of the Magi (date unknown), Pinacoteca Vaticana
File:Frama AssSC037.JPG|Madonna and child with saints and angels (1516) Treasure Museum, Assisi
</gallery>

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{1911|wstitle=Spagna, Lo|volume=25|pages=526–527}}

==External links==
{{commons category-inline|Lo Spagna}}
*Review of exhibition: ''Giovanni di Pietro, un pittore spagnolo fra Perugino e Raffaello'' (May 29 – August 1, 2004)[https://web.archive.org/web/20061209181106/http://en.umbriaonline.com/giovanni_di_pietro.phtml].

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pietro (Lo Spagna), Giovanni Di}}
[[Category:1529 deaths]]
[[Category:16th-century Italian painters]]
[[Category:Italian male painters]]
[[Category:Italian Renaissance painters]]
[[Category:Umbrian painters]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Fresco painters]]