Tibaldi, Pellegrino

▪ Italian painter

also called  Il Pellegrini  

born 1527, Puria, duchy of Milan [Italy]

died May 27, 1596, Milan

      Italian painter, sculptor, and architect who spread the style of Italian Mannerist painting in Spain during the late 16th century.

 Tibaldi grew up in Bologna in a family of Lombard stonemasons. He was trained as a painter under minor Emilian artists who imitated the style of Raphael; in 1547, however, he went to Rome and worked with Perino del Vaga. The Adoration of the Shepherds (shepherds, adoration of the), one of Tibaldi's earliest known paintings, shows the influence of Michelangelo. His later works revealed the influence of Parmigianino and Niccolo dell' Abbate (Abate, Niccolò dell').

      After his return to Bologna in 1553, Tibaldi revealed his talent in decorative painting with a series of frescoes at the Palazzo Poggi (now the University of Bologna). He then completed several architectural projects in Bologna, Pavia, Milan, and other Italian cities.

 In 1587 Tibaldi answered the summons of Philip II of Spain to supervise the decorating of the Escorial Library near Madrid. While there, he painted 46 frescoes in the cloister alone, executed many sculptural projects, and superintended the architectural details. He returned to Milan shortly before his death, rich and ennobled.

      Tibaldi's use of figures in violent and artificial poses is similar to that of Giulio Romano. The decorative, audacious, and absurd poses of his earlier figures are repeated in his frescoes for the Escorial. Tibaldi's architectural work is regarded as competent but unoriginal.

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