Cavallini, Pietro (fl. c. 1270–c. 1330)

The painter and mosaicist Pietro Cavallini (fl. c. 1270-c. 1330) is considered the most accomplished Roman master of his generation and one of the leading protagonists in the revival of the visual arts in Italy at the close of the thirteenth century. His work is rooted in the visual traditions of Late Antiquity and is close to, but distinguishable from, contemporary Tuscan and Byzantine painting. He lived in Rome for most of his life, receiving prominent commissions from influential patrons to decorate some of the city's most prestigious ecclesiastical buildings. Documents place Cavallini in Naples in 1308 and confirm that he held a significant cultural position at the court of the city's Angevin rulers. He may also have been active in Assisi to judge by Bruno Zanardi's (2002, 2004) authoritative studies of the painting techniques employed in the Saint Francis cycle of the town's upper church. Indeed, this scholar and conservator makes a convincing case for attributing part of the cycle to a team of craftsmen led by the Roman artist.