Domenico di Michelino (1417–1491) was a Florentine painter of the Italian Renaissance, born and buried in Florence. He was originally named Domenico di Francesco; the surname «di Michelino» honoured his teacher, the cassone painter Michelino di Benedetto, whose works have not been identified. He is remembered above all for a large allegory of Dante painted for Florence Cathedral, his best-known work.
By 1442 he had joined the Compagnia di San Luca, the painters' confraternity, and two years later the Arte dei Medici e Speziali, the guild. He shared a workshop in the Via delle Terme with Domenico di Zanobi. His earliest surviving work is a processional banner for the Ospedale degli Innocenti, commissioned in 1440 and finished in 1446, although Michele Tosini almost entirely repainted it in the sixteenth century. In 1449–50 he decorated the chapel of Saint Leonard at Santa Maria a Peretola.
His output included altarpieces, small devotional panels, cassone fronts and manuscript illumination. Among his altarpieces is a Madonna and Child with Saints now in Munich, and in 1463 Cosimo de' Medici commissioned one for San Girolamo in Volterra. Vasari calls him a pupil of Fra Angelico, but his style also reflects Filippo Lippi and Pesellino, and he is often compared with Alesso Baldovinetti.
The Comedy Illuminating Florence (1465) shows Dante presenting his poem to the city. Hell, Purgatory and Paradise fill the background, while Brunelleschi's dome rises to the right. It has been suggested that the composition drew on a miniature in the Yates Thompson manuscript, though reversed.
Few works survive from after 1483. He died in Florence in 1491 and was buried in Sant'Ambrogio. His output was long confused: Bernard Berenson assigned his paintings to Giusto d'Andrea and, conversely, gave Zanobi Strozzi's panels to Michelino.
Works (3)
This painting belongs to the sacra conversazione type, in which the Virgin and Child appear surrounded by saints within a single space. Dated 1450 and attributed to Domenico di Michelino, it has a devotional character. Given the limited information available, it is best described cautiously.
This painting by Domenico di Michelino depicts the Virgin Mary, a central subject of religious art. Its title refers to the Madonna of Humility, a devotional image in which Christ's mother appears modest and contemplative. Today it is held in the Museo del Bigallo in Florence.
Where to see the work
- Florence Cathedral Florence · 1
- Diocesan Museum in Volterra Volterra · 1
Curiosities
A borrowed surname
Domenico did not sign with his family name but with that of his master, Michelino di Benedetto. The tribute became his working name, even though no work by the teacher has been identified. It is an example of how fifteenth-century painters could build their professional identity from workshop relationships.
Dante in reverse
A Divine Comedy manuscript, the Yates Thompson, contains a miniature by Giovanni di Paolo for Paradiso canto 17, dated around 1444–1450 and now in the British Library. It shows the same elements as the cathedral painting, but in reverse. It has been suggested that it served as a model, though this cannot be confirmed.