Nardo di Cione

Nardo di Cione (Born Florence died 1366), was an Italian painter, sculptor and architect from Florence. He was the brother of the more accomplished Andrea di Cione, called Orcagna, as well as Jacopo di Cione; they were important members of the Painter’s Guild of Florence. While Orcagna has been noted as the more accomplished artist, Nardo developed his own unique style, described as “a pronounced lyrical vein, a feeling for poetic values, strong human sympathies and great sensitivity to colour as a means of subtle differentiation and soft modeling.”

His full name was Leonardo, and not as hypothesized Bernardo, as it is outlined in his will, dating back to 1365. His father was perhaps a goldsmith, who started him and his brothers in artistic activities. Though the premises were common to all artists, over time they took different paths. Nardo is considered to be the most "expressionist", more connected to the rendering of moods and emotions of the characters.

His main work is the frescoes, painted together with Giovanni Del Biondo, of the Last Judgment, Hell and Paradise in the Strozzi Chapel in Santa Maria Novella, 1351-1357. His style is strongly influenced by Giotto even though he does not conserve space and realism and expresses himself with an almost archaic autonomous language, although Nardo's work is behind Giotto. Remains of frescoes attributed to him are also found in the Badia Fiorentina.

The di Cione brothers collaborated on a number of works from their studio together, including the decorations from the Cappella Strozzi in Santa Maria Novella. While Orcagna painted the altarpiece, Nardo executed the frescoes of The Last Judgment, Paradise and Hell.

Of Nardo’s independently attributed works is his, Crucifixion, a central panel of a tabernacle. In the predella of the piece are depictions of Saints Jerome, James the Less, Saint Paul, James the Great and Saint Peter the Martyr. The work is of unknown origin, but was acquired from the Accademia in Florence and now in the Uffizi Gallery.

There is also Nardo’s Standing Madonna with Child, executed sometime in the 1350s. This piece has been noted of works created in Florence after the ravages of the bubonic plague of 1348, where religious art was commissioned in order to bring spiritual relief to the survivors.[2] This Standing Madonna is very similar to the surviving work of Nardo’s smaller devotional pieces for the home, one of which is housed in the National Gallery of Art, Madonna and Child with Saints Peter and John the Evangelist.

Among the works on the table Christ crucified with the sorrows and saints (about 1350) at the Uffizi or the Triptych of the Thronum Gratiae (1365) at the Academy Gallery.
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