Andrea Sabatini, called Andrea da Salerno (Salerno c. 1480-1530/1 Gaeta)

The most celebrated Southern artist of the Cinquecento, Andrea Sabatini is better known as Andrea da Salerno, where he was born in c. 1480. Little is known about his activity before 1511-2, by which time he was already clearly aware of Raphael's Stanze and of the Lombard and Roman culture of Cesare da Sesto. His style was further enriched by the arrival of Da Sesto in Naples, along with Pedro Machuca. Amongst his most important patrons were the Benedictines, in Cava dei Tirreni, Naples, and in the Abbey of Montecassino, where he painted several altarpiece. After his death in 1530, some of his unfinished commission were completed by his brother-in-law Severo Ierace and by Giovan Filippo Criscuolo, to whom this painting has also been attributed (Leone de Castris, op. cit.). The exhibition Andrea da Salerno nel Rinascimento meridionale: Certosa di San Lorenzo (Salerno, 1986) added greatly to our understanding of artistic developments in Southern Italy during the Cinquecento.