Domenico Morone

Domenico Morone (c. 1442 – 1518) was an Italian painter from Verona, painting in an early Renaissance style. Much of his work has not survived, notably his fresco cycles. He was considered by Vasari to be second only to Liberale da Verona among artists in his town. His son Francesco Morone was also a prominent Veronese painter. His pupils included Michele da Verona and Girolamo dai Libri. Among the first Renaissance exponents of the Veronese school of painting, he was born into a family from Morbegno that had settled on the banks of the Adige around 1425. He was probably a pupil of Francesco Benaglio, but he was also deeply influenced by other artists of the time, such as Andrea Mantegna and Giovanni Bellini, although little is known about his training and early years of activity.

He is believed to have started as a miniatore before moving on to painting and fresco production. His earliest known works date back to 1470, such as the four panels depicting Saint Francis, Saint Bernardino, Saint Bartholomew, and Saint Roch, originally part of a polyptych, and some frescoes now detached and preserved at the Museo di Castelvecchio in Verona. Apart from the decoration of the organ shutters of the church of San Bernardino, no other works can be firmly dated to the 1480s, although it is almost certain that his workshop must have achieved a certain popularity in the city. In 1493 he signed one of his most famous works, canvas celebrating the Cacciata dei Bonacolsi (1494) (or Expulsion of the Bonacolsi in 1328, scene of Piazza Sordello, Mantua)', commissioned by the Duke of Mantua Francesco II Gonzaga, and now in the Ducal Palace of Mantua. Two small cassone panels depicting the Rape of Sabine women dated to c.1490 and attributed to Morone were bought by the National Gallery, London in 1886 and remain in its collections. From the following years, much of his production involved collaboration with his son Francesco, with whom in 1503 he completed what is considered his masterpiece: the cycle of frescoes for the Sagramoso Library in the San Bernardino convent in Verona.

Famous for the details of human figures, backgrounds, and objects, he used vibrant and luminous colors in his works, often with a rich color palette. It has been observed that the faces of his protagonists are generally sober and prosaic, unlike those of his son, described as "sweetened." In his later years, Domenico Morone became increasingly subdued and attentive to psychological subtleties, as clearly seen in his Madonna and Child painted in the 1510s. Likely a master to prominent artists, including Girolamo dai Libri, Paolo Morando and Michele da Verona (in addition to his already mentioned son Francesco), his last mention dates to 1517, and he presumably died shortly thereafter.