Antoniazzo Romano “pictor Urbis”

This article retraces the life and artistic career of Antonio Aquili, known as Antoniazzo Romano, one of the leading exponents of Roman painting in the middle of the 15th century who has been accorded his due centrality by the recent exhibition held in Rome between 2013 and 2014. As a painter he had fully mastered the novelties of the early Renaissance and his busy workshop in what is now Piazza Rondanini produced numerous sacred paintings for eminent prelates of the Roman Curia, monastic communities, religious institutions and members of the aristocracy. The essay documents his work from the first commissions in the 1460s through to the last years of his activity in the early years of the 16th century. It addresses his work for members of the Caetani family, his production of small panels with images of the Virgin Mary destined to private devotion, his retrieval of mediaeval subjects through copies of the ancient icons, as well as the large altarpieces and the cycles of frescoes in the churches of Rome and in the Orsini castle of Bracciano.

Keywords: Antoniazzo Romano; Pictor Urbis; Quattrocento; Early Cinquecento; Rome; Roman exhibition; Art.