Girolamo Dai Libri pittore

Girolamo Dai Libri painter Girolamo Dai Libri (1474 c. – 1555), painter and miniaturist from Verona, begins his activity inside the family shop. The first known tests, reliably dated from the beginning of the nineties of ‘400, are the miniatures of the choral books of some monasteries, also included those from Verona such as Santa Maria in Organo, San Nazaro and Celso, San Bernardino and San Giorgio in Braida. From a stylistic point of view, they present strong affinities with the style of father Francesco and this fact sometimes makes difficult to divide the different contributions, as confirmation of the close symbiotical relationship between the two artists. Later on, Girolamo shall mature his own and more pronounced linguistic autonomy, that begins to appear with major clearness especially in the paint works. At opening of the catalogue of paintings, Vasari (1568), commonly followed by the later writers, placed the Deposizione, performed for the chapel of Da Lisca in Santa Maria in Organo and, at present, in the parish of Malcesine. In fact, the consciousness of means that appear in this altarpiece make believe that the artist from Verona already had the opportunity of dealing with the oil technique painting, even though the few surviving pieces -only the Adorazione ex Mond- allow to give just an incomplete summary of the situation. The many miniatures for choral books, the Deposizione at present at Malcesine, the Presepe dei Conigli of Castelvecchio performed in 1500, the two Santi Mond and together with them the lost paintings for the Sacramento altar, all addressed to the church of Santa Maria in Organo, point out the importance of this workshop in the youth of the painter (1498c. – 1502c.), that in this context had the opportunity of making several and productive acquaintances: with the old Liberale, with the two Morone and with the carver and architect fra Giovanni, with whom he collaborates on the decoration of the Sacramento and Muletta altars. At the beginning of sixteenth century, after a probable stay in Vicenza (1506), Girolamo returns to Verona. The first decades of the new century are very active for his profession: in this period in fact some important works are placed such as the altarpiece for the Centrego altar in Santa Anastasia, the one for San Leonardo (New York, Metropolitan Museum) and the one for the Bonalini chapel in Santa Maria in Organo (Berlin, Gemäldegalerie), for San Tommaso Catauriense and San Giacomo alla Pigna (Verona, Castelvecchio). In the same period of time he also devotes himself to the fresco, working together with non identified helpers to a front in Piazza delle Erbe, he receives requests for minor difficult pictures, probably assigned for private devoutness purposes, such as the beautiful Cristie’s Cristo Risorto, whose attribution to Dai Libri is supported by the perfect analogy of the picture with an often repeated iconographical model and by the stylistic correspondents to the works of this period. During the years of his maturity, Girolamo intensifies the relationship with Francesco Morone, with whom he will collaborate on several occasions between 1513 and 1529, in particular within the context of Santa Maria in Organo, a church that was destined to receive the pictures for the organ that are at present exhibited in the parish of Marcellise (1515), where the process of reciprocal stylistic adaptation of the two artists is crystal clear. A similar wavelength of intents appears in San Giorgio in Braida, where the painters split up the decoration of the altar with the Madonna with the Child and Saints Lorenzo Giustiniani e Zeno (1526), performed together with the below predella by Girolamo and crowned by a lunette representing Dio Padre, work of Morone. Not much later, Dai Libri began to note, with growing attention, the dynamic and colour cues of the paintings of Cavazzola, whose obvious influence appears in the Madonna with Child and S. Anna in the London National Gallery (from Santa Maria della Scala, dated around 1518) and in the bright and subsequent altarpiece for San Paolo in Campo Marzio. The final paintings do not present particular chronological problems since they are all dated or supported by documents: starting from the altarpiece for San Giorgio, dated around 1526, to the so-called Madonna dell’Ombrellino (Verona, Castelvecchio; from Santa Maria della Vittoria Nuova) dated 1530, until the later Madonna della quercia (Verona, Castelvecchio; from Sant’Andrea), Girolamo remains faithful to the classicist formation that distinguishes his style from the beginning, yet developing it towards the landscape, that will have an increasing constituent importance. In case, remains pending the reconstruction of the last twenty year period of his career: regarding the uncertain dating of the altarpiece for Sant’Andrea and the lack of further certain paintings set in this lapse of time, after 1530 with the Madonna dell’ombrellino, his professional course is in fact quite evasive. Apparently he abandoned painting to be converted to miniature that he practised until his death, as proved by the dates 1554 and 1555 that are found on the surviving choral books of Polirone. It is perhaps possible that he had not completely set aside paint brushing but simply, being surpassed by more modern authors, had left the circuit of the official orders and together with the shop, had decided to fall back on a production assigned to the conservative private collection, probably concentrating on the production of little paintings: the “out of range” placing of these kind of works, the lack of inventory in the guides and writings of the historians of Verona and the consequent easiness of their dispersion shall therefore help to explain at least in part, the incredible and more then twenty-year gap that compromises the reconstruction of his last activity.