ANTONIO

See also:

• ANTONIO SOLARIO (c. 1382-1455)

SOLARIO (c. 1382-1455)  , Italian painter of the Neapolitan school, commonly called Lo Zingaro, or The Gipsy . His father is said to have been a travelling smith . To all appearance Antonio was born at Civita in the Abruzzi, although it is true that one of his pictures is signed " Antonio de Solario Venetus," which may possibly be accounted for on the ground that the signature is not genuine . Solario is said to have gone through a love-adventure similar to that of the Flemish painter, Quintin Massys . He was at first a smith, and did a job of work in the house of the prime Neapolitan painter Colantonio del Fiore; he fell in love with Colantonio's daughter, and she with him; and the father, to stave him off, said if he would come back in ten years an accomplished painter the young lady should be his . Solario studied the art, returned in nine years, and claimed and obtained his bride . The fact is that Colantonio' del Fiore is one of those painters who never existed; consequently his daughter never existed, and the whole story, as relating to these particular personages, must be untrue . Whether it has any truth, in relation to some unidentified painter and his daughter, is a separate question which we cannot decide . Solario made an extensive round of study—first with Lippo Dalmasio in Bologna, and afterwards in Venice, Ferrara, Florence and Rome . On returning to Naples he rapidly took the first place in his art . His principal performance is in the court of themonastery of S . Severinoe-twenty large frescoes illustrating the life of St Benedict, now greatly decayed; they present a vast variety of figures and details, with dexterous modelling and colouring .

Sometimes, however, Lo Zingaro's

colour is crude, and he generally shows weakness of draughtmanship in hands and feet . His tendency is that of a naturalist—the heads lifelike and individual, and the landscape backgrounds better invented and cared for than in any contemporary . In the Studj gallery of Naples are three pictures attributed to this master, the most remarkable one being a " Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints." The heads here are reputed to be mostly portraits . Solario initiated a mode of art new in . Naples; and the works painted between his time and that of Tesauro (c . 1470). are locally termed Zingarescbi." He had many scholars, but not of pre-eminent standing—Nicola Vito, Simone Papa, Angiolillo Roccadirame, . Pietro and Ippolito dal Donzello . It has. often been said that Solario painted in oil, but of this there is no evidence .