Carlo Crivelli

1430 – 1495

Italian painter. He was born in Venice and always signed himself as a Venetian, but he spent most of his career working in the Marches, particularly at Ascoli Piceno, and he also lived for some time at Zara in Dalmatia (now Croatia). His paintings are all of religious subjects, done in a n elaborate, old-fashioned style that owes much to the wiry Paduan tradition of Squarcione and Mantegna and yet is highly distinctive. Their dense ornamentation is often increased by the use of gesso decoration combined with the paint. The finest collection of his works is in the National Gallery in London and includes the delightful and much reproduced Annunciation (1486). Vittore Crivelli (died 1501-02), Carlo's brother, was a faithful but pedestrian follower.

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