Amico Aspertini: The Bizarre Genius of the Renaissance
- The “Anti-Classical” Pioneer: Aspertini rejected the rigid canons of beauty and proportion common in the Renaissance, creating a unique, “bizarre” style that paved the way for Mannerism.
- A Master of Speed: His ability to paint with both hands simultaneously made him one of the most prolific and fast-working fresco artists of the 16th century.
- The Archeologist Artist: His work was deeply rooted in a fascination with ancient Rome, documented extensively in his surviving sketchbooks like the Wolfegg Codex.
Amico Aspertini (born 1474 or 75-1552) was an Italian Renaissance painter and sculptor who anticipated Mannerism with his convoluted, quirky, and eclectic style.
At the beginning of the sixteenth century, Bologna was a very culturally active city. Artists’ obsession with the ancient, interpreted innovatively utilizing iconography borrowed from erudite literary sources, mirrored the city’s vibrant center for humanities, due in part to its university (the “Studium”).
Amico studied under masters such as Lorenzo Costa and Francesco Francia. He painted frescoes, facade decorations, and altarpieces. He has produced some works considered bizarre by many of his contemporaneous fellow painters. The artist and art historian Giorgio Vasari described Aspertini as a person with an eccentric personality. He was ambidextrous, according to Vasari, and worked so quickly with both hands that he could divide chiaroscuro between them, painting chiaro with one hand and scuro with the other. Aspertini’s originality caused the criticisms of scholars of classicistic heritage, too loyal to fixed canons of external beauty, proportions, and compositional balance.
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In 1496, he traveled to Rome with his father, and he is briefly documented there again between 1500 and 1503, before returning to Bologna and painting in the manner of Pinturicchio and Filippino Lippi. In Bologna in 1504, he collaborated with Francia and Costa on murals for Giovanni II Bentivoglio’s Oratory of Santa Cecilia near to San Giacomo Maggiore.
The ancient culture exerted a strong influence on him and spurred him to visit the Roman ruins. This interest in archeology is proved by at least two collections of sketches: the Wolfegg Codex and one of Aspertini’s notebooks the, “Parma Notebook” (Taccuino di Parma), preserved in the British Museum, in which he reveals his admiration for antiquity.
Aspertini created the magnificent murals in the Chapel of the Cross in the Basilica di San Frediano in Lucca while in exile from Bologna following the collapse of the Bentivoglio dynasty in 1508-1509. In 1529, Aspertini was one of two painters chosen to create a triumphal arch for Pope Clement VII and Emperor Charles V’s arrival into Bologna. He created sculptures for the doors of Bologna’s San Petronio Basilica.
He died in Bologna in 1552.
Amico Aspertini: Frequently Asked Questions About the Renaissance’s Most Eccentric Artist
Who was Amico Aspertini?
Amico Aspertini (1474–1552) was an Italian Renaissance painter and sculptor from Bologna known for his quirky, eclectic style that anticipated the Mannerist movement. He was famously described by Giorgio Vasari as an eccentric figure who challenged the classical proportions of his era.
Was Amico Aspertini really ambidextrous?
Yes, according to contemporary accounts by Vasari, Aspertini was highly skilled with both hands. He was known to paint “chiaro” (light) with one hand and “scuro” (dark) with the other simultaneously, allowing him to complete large-scale frescoes with incredible speed.
What is the Wolfegg Codex?
The Wolfegg Codex is one of Aspertini’s famous sketchbooks containing detailed drawings of Roman ruins and ancient art. It serves as primary evidence of his deep obsession with archaeology and how classical antiquity influenced his “bizarre” and innovative iconography.
Sources: Wikipedia, Treccani, Uffizi
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