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Andrea de Litio

Andrea de Litio (also spelt Delitio), one of the greatest Abruzzese painters, achieved a wonderful fusion of native and international elements. He painted frescoes in many parts of Abruzzo, and some of his paintings are in museums as far as Baltimore and New York. His acknoledged masterpiece is the fresco cycle in the Cathedral of Atri.

Biography

Very little is known on his life. He must have been born about 1420, and for long time his place of birth was uncertain: da Lecce in Apulia, Guardiagrele, Sulmona, Atri. But the presence in Marsica of two juvenile works, led scholars to believe he was from Lecce Vecchia, called in Lombard times Litium, which after the 1915 earthquake was abandoned when the population rebuilt their village, now Lecce dei Marsi, down in the plain. At the time this area of Abruzzo was poor, afflicted by periodical famine, devastated by earthquakes and invading armies. A landscape of valleys and mountains, which Andrea De Litio about 1440 left for Umbria and Tuscany, where his artistic personality could better develop. Decades later he returned to the other Abruzzo along the coast, where he left the great works of his maturity.

Artistic Development

In his native land Andrea, according to art critic ferdinando Bologna, absorbed the lessons of the Maestro di San Silvestro and the Maestro di Beffi, two early Abruzzese painters, then when he moved to Umbria and Tuscany he developed his masterly style merging the heritage of Masolino da Panicale and Gentile da Fabriano with the technical novelties of Paolo Uccello and Piero della Francesca.
His early works (about 1440) are in Marsica (Madonna col Bambino in the Cathedral of Celano and the Madonna di Cese, now in the castle of Celano) and in L'Aquila (Madonna del Latte in the church of Sant'Amico and the nativity in the Beata Antonia). In about 1450 he painted the now lost frescoes in the church of San Francesco, Sulmona. Then followed a period where he was out of the region, working with Umbrian and Tuscan painters. he was again in Abruzzo in 1473, when he signed and dated the giant San Cristoforo on the outer wall of Santa Maria Maggiore, Guardiagrele, and in 1480 he was working on his masterpiece in Atri.

Works by Andrea De Litio

ATRI - Santa Maria Assunta

Affreschi del Coro

Affresco Madonna adorante il bambino

Affresco Madonna col bambino entro

tabernacolo sorretto da angeli

Affresco Madonna col bambino e Santa Casa di Loreto trasportata dagli Angeli

ATRI - Sant'Agostino

Affresco Madonna con Bambino tra i Santi

Giovanni Battista e Giacomo

CASTELLI - San Rocco

Affresco Madonna adorante

CELANO - San Giovanni

Affresco Madonna con il Bambino

CELANO - Castello Piccolomini

Tavola Madonna di Cese

GUARDIAGRELE - Santa Maria Maggiore

Affresco San Cristoforo

ISOLA DEL GRAN SASSO - San Sebastiano

Affreschi Annunciazione

L'AQUILA - Museo Nazionale

Dittico Sposalizio mistico e Crocifissione.

Tavola (frammento) Madonna

L'AQUILA - Convento Beata Antonia

Affresco Adorazione del Bambino

Affresco Madonna con Bambino e S. Ansano

L'AQUILA - Convento Sant'Amico

Affresco Cristo in croce tra la Vergine e S.Giovanni

L'AQUILA - Collezione privata

Tela Madonna dell'Umiltà

LUCOLI - San Giovanni Battista

Affreschi S. Lorenzo, S. Giorgio, Santo Francescano

Ritratto di vecchio

MUTIGNANO - San Silvestro

Tavola San Silvestro e sue storie

SULMONA - Scala del Palazzo Sanità

Affresco Madonna adorante il Bambino

NORCIA - Sant'Agostino

Affresco Madonna col bambino e pellegrina

NEW YORK - Metropolitan Museum

Tavola: Annunciata

BALTIMORE - Walters art Gallery

Trittico: Madonna con il Bambino e Santi

PROVIDENCE - Rhode Island School of Design

Tavola: Incontro di San Benedetto e Totila

KREUTZLINGEN - Collezione Kisters

Tavola: La Madonna in trono tra i Santi Francesco, Ludovico, Beati Nicola da Tolentino e Berardino da Siena

UNKNOWN (formerly Collezione Lawson)

Tavola: Madonna in trono col Bambino

UNKNOWN (formerly Collezione Corsi)

Tavola: Madonna con il Bambino

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