Bartolomeo Passarotti

Bartolomeo Passarotti or Passerotti (1529–1592) was an Italian painter of the mannerist period, who worked mainly in his native Bologna. His family name is also spelled Passerotti or Passarotto.

Bartolomeo Passarotti
Self-portrait (c. 1560)
Born	1529 Bologna
Died	1592
Nationality	Italian
Known for	Painting
Movement	Mannerism

Life and work

From approximately 1550 to 1555, he lived in Rome, where he worked under Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola and Taddeo Zuccari. Upon returning to Bologna, he established a large studio and, from 1564 to 1565, was engaged in painting a large altarpiece for the Basilica of San Giacomo Maggiore. In his later work, he turned to Tuscan models, such as Giorgio Vasari and Prospero Fontana. His last known work was The Presentation of Mary in the Temple, from 1583, now at the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna.

He influenced many Bolognese who would later play a role in the rise of the Baroque. Annibale Carracci (whose brother Agostino studied with Passerotti) was influenced by Passerotti's genre scenes in a select set of paintings (such as The Beaneater and The Butcher's Shop, the latter being originally attributed to Passerotti). Lucio Massari and Francesco Brizzi were among his pupils. Three of Passerotti's sons, including Ventura (1566–1618), Aurelio (1560–1609) and Tiburzio, were painters.

Selected works

• 
  The Fish Stall
• 
  Anatomy Lesson
• 
  The Madonna of Silence
• 
  Three Men and Two Dogs, 1529

Sources

• Angela Ghirardi, Bartolomeo Passerotti. Pittore (1529-1592) Catalogo generale, Rimini, Luisè Editore, 1990, ISBN 88-8505-053-0
• Angela Ghirardi, "PASSEROTTI, Bartolomeo", in, Dizionario biografico degli italiani, vol. 81, Roma, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 2014
• Corinna Höper, Bartolomeo Passarotti (1529-1592), 2 vols., Worms 1987
• Jürgen Müller, Das Geheimnis der unsichtbaren Schwelle. Bartolomeo Passerottis Allegra compagnia als Gemeinschaft von Toren, in: Kunstchronik 75/4 (2022), pp. 182-199, https://doi.org/10.11588/kc.2022.4.102832.
• Jürgen Müller, Der Künstler als komischer Held. Anmerkungen zur Genremalerei Bartolomeo Passerottis, in: Helen Boeßenecker, Gernot Mayer, Wolfgang Alberth (Eds.): Sinn und Sinnlichkeit in der Kunst. Festschrift für Roland Kanz, Petersberg 2023, pp. 36–47.

External links

• A Caravaggio Rediscovered, The Lute Player, an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Passarotti (see cat. no. 11)