VIVARINI, the surname of a family of painters of Murano (Venice), who produced a great quantity of work in Venice and its neighbourhood in the 15th century, leading on to that phase of the school which is represented by Carpaccio and the Bellinis.
Antonio Vivarini was probably the earliest of this family. He came from the school of Andrea da Murano, and his works show the influence of Gentile da Fabriano. The earliest known date of a picture of his, an altar-piece in the Venetian academy, is 1440; the latest, in the Lateran museum, 1464. He worked in company with a certain “Joannes de Alemania.” By some writers Joannes has been regarded as himself a Vivarini, but this appears improbable: no trace of him exists of a date later than 1447. After 1447 Antonio painted either alone or in combination with his younger brother Bartolommeo. The works of Antonio are well drawn for their epoch, with a certain noticeable degree of softness, and with good flesh and other tints. Three of his principal paintings are the Virgin Enthroned with the Four Doctors of the Church, the Coronation of the Virgin, and Sts Peter and Jerome. The first two (in which Joannes co-operated) are in the Venetian academy, the third in the London National Gallery....
Bartolommeo Vivarini is known to have worked from 1450 to 1499. He learned oil-painting from Antonello da Messina, and is said to have produced, in 1473, the first oil picture done in Venice. This is in the church of Sts John and Paul,—a large altar-piece in nine divisions, representing Augustine and other saints. Most of his works, however, including one in the National Gallery, are in tempera. His outline is always hard, and his colour good; the figures have much dignified and devout expression. As “vivarino” means in Italian a goldfinch, he sometimes drew a goldfinch as the signature of his pictures.
Luigi or Alvise Vivarini painted in 1490 and on to 1505. It has sometimes been supposed that, besides the Luigi who was the latest of this pictorial family, there had also been another Luigi who was the earliest, this supposition being founded on the fact that one picture is signed with the name, along with the date 1414. There is good ground, however, for considering this date to be a forgery of a later time. The works of Luigi show an advance on those of his predecessors, his best work being one which he executed for the Scuola di S. Girolamo in Venice, representing the saint caressing his lion, and some monks decamping in terror. The architecture and perspective in this work are superior. Other works by Luigi are in Treviso and in Milan.
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