Andrea del Castagno

Andrea del Castagno was born in Castagno in 1421, a village near Florence Italy. Briefly he lived in Corella during a war between Florence and Milan, and eventually moved to Florence in 1440 under the protection of Bernadetto de Medici – a wealthy noble. In Florence Castagno painted portraits of citizens that were hanged after the Battle of Anghiari – these portraits were painted on the facade of the Palazzo del Podesta; this gained him the nickname Andrea degli Impiccati.

It is thought that Castagno apprenticed under Fra Filippo Lippi and Paulo Uccello. In his later years the artist completed frescoes in the San Tarasio Chapel, and St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice. He also painted a Last Supper fresco in the refectory of Sant Apollonia in Florence. Some critics believe that the last supper fresco represents some of his best art work. Throughout his life Andrea del Castagno was commissioned repeatedly by the church and the Medici family. He died in 1457. Giorgio Vasari claims that Castagno murdured his colleague Domenico Veneziano, but in fact Castagno died a few years earlier than Veneziano

Andrea del Castagno Artwork

David with the Head of Goliath, c. 1450/1455, tempera on leather on wood, 1942.9.8
Portrait of a Man, c. 1450, tempera on panel, 1937.1.17
The Resurrection
Queen Esther
Monumento a Niccolo
Dante Alighieri
Petrarch
Pippo Spano
Villa Carducci Series of Famous Men and Women