Spinello Aretino (c. 1346–1410)

The Italian painter and draughtsman Spinello di Luca Spinelli, commonly called Spinello Aretino, was active in Arezzo, Lucca, Pisa, Florence, and Siena. Influential patrons or institutions of the day sought his services, and he was specially favoured by the Olivetan Order (reformed Benedictines). Spinello's art, like that of his contemporaries Agnolo Gaddi and Antonio Veneziano, is marked by a keen interest in the Giottesque tradition of naturalism. To this should be added his highly expressive treatment of line and, in paintings on panel, an emphasis on lavish surface textures and vivid colouring. A talent for narrative composition is revealed in the many extensive fresco cycles that punctuate his prominent career. As the head of one of Tuscany's best-organised and busiest artistic workshops, Spinello occupies a significant position in the development of central Italian painting at the turn of the fourteenth century. No longer considered a conservative follower of Orcagna (Andrea di Cione) and his brothers, Spinello is today regarded as an accomplished artist. His work anticipated the late Gothic style of Lorenzo Monaco and Lorenzo Ghiberti, as well as offering inspiration to such a master of the early fifteenth century as Masaccio.