Bergamo painter Moroni made his subjects come alive

Moroni's work is on display in the Palazzo della Ragione

One of the most celebrated 16th century Italian portrait painters, Giovan Battista Moroni, was born at Albino just outside Bergamo.

Moroni is renowned for the vitality and realism of his portraits, for which he was once praised by Titian.

Although some of his work is in international galleries and some is in private collections, it is possible to see examples of Moroni’s work in Bergamo.

The exact year of his birth is uncertain, but it is believed to have been somewhere between 1510 and 1522.

He began his artistic training in the mid 1530s under a religious painter from Brescia, Alessandro Bonvicino.

Moroni’s legacy of portraits shows the way society evolved in Bergamo in the 16th century as he received commissions both from noblemen and wealthy, middle class merchants.

The Accademia Carrara in Bergamo has some fine examples of Moroni’s portraits in its vast collection. Although it is currently closed for restoration, you can see some of Moroni’s work in the exhibition currently being held in the Palazzo della Ragione in the Piazza Vecchia in Bergamo’s Città Alta (upper town).

Sant'Alesssandro
della Croce

Moroni also painted religious subjects and while he was working in Trento towards the end of his life was the first painter to reflect aspects of the Reformation in his work.

One of his finest religious works, the Coronation of the Virgin, can be seen in the church of Sant’Alessandro della Croce in Via Pignolo in Bergamo’s Città Bassa (lower town).

Moroni was in the middle of painting a Last Judgment for the church at Gorlago near Bergamo when he died on 5 February, 1578.

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