Giovanni d'Alemagna

Who is Giovanni d'Alemagna?

Giovanni d'Alemagna was a German painter, active in Italy, who collaborated with his brother-in-law Antonio Vivarini on various important religious paintings in Venice and Padua.

Although it is difficult to distinguish the two artists' contributions, Giovanni is associated with the St Jerome, which carries the signature 'Johannes'. This painting suggests that Giovanni's work was generally flatter and more decorative than Antonio's more naturalistic style.

Giovanni d'Alemagna and Antonio Vivarini ran an extremely well organized shop in Venice that specialized in multi-tiered, multi-paneled altarpieces and fanciful Gothic frames, which they subcontracted to various woodworkers.

In 1446 Giovanni and Antonio signed and dated the triptych representing the Madonna and Child with Saints for the wall behind the officers' bench of the recently expanded meeting room of the Scuola della Carità. Resembling an altarpiece but functioning as an inducement to good decision making, this monumental painting shows the four doctors of the Church in a courtyard around a massive Madonna and Child.