Giovanni Boccati

Italian, ca. 1420 – after 1480

BiographyGiovanni Boccati was born in Camerino in 1420. He became a citizen of Perugia in 1445 and is thought to have received most of his formal artistic training there. It was there that Boccati painted what is thought to have been his first major work, Madonna Del Pergolato, commissioned by the Confraternità dei Disciplinati di San Domenico, a Perugian-based religious organization. His work reflects the strong influence of Fra Angelico and Fillipo Lippi, prominent artists of Boccati's day. The composition of his works, as well as his choice of stylistic traits, bears great similarity to Angelico's artistic style.

By 1448, Boccati had traveled to Padua, where he was exposed to the work of Lippi, who had been particularly active there in the 1430s. The monumentality and style of Boccati's later works reflect an incorporation of Lippi's technique. In 1451, Boccati left for Florence with fellow painter Giovanni Angelo di Antonio, who also hailed from Camerino. It is unclear how long he actually spent in the city, as he is thought to have painted the frescoes of the Appartamento dell'lole at the Palazzo Ducale of Urbino at about the same time. Partially destroyed, the frescoes are characterized by large-scale depictions of heroes and soldiers, as well as various coats of arms and medallions.

Boccati returned to Camerino by the late 1450s where he completed the Belforte Polyptych, dated 1468. Commissioned by Taliano di Lippo, the panels depict the life of Saint Eustace. Boccati's depiction of light and drapery recall the technique of Domenico Veneziano, another accomplished Italian painter.

Boccati's whereabouts were last recorded in 1470, in Perugia, where he was paid for two unknown altarpieces. He is speculated to have died sometime after 1480.