Guariento di Arpo

Who is Guariento di Arpo?

Guariento, sometimes incorrectly named Guerriero, was the first Paduan painter of distinction.

The only date distinctly known in his career is 1355, when, having already acquired high renown in his native city, he was invited by the Venetian authorities to paint a Paradise, and some incidents of the war of Spoleto, in the great council-hall of Venice. These works were greatly admired at the time, but have long ago disappeared under repaintings.

His works in Padua have suffered much. In the church of the Eremitani are allegories of the Planets, and, in its choir, some small sacred histories in dead colour, such as an Ecce Homo; also, on the upper walls, the life of Saint Augustine, with some other subjects. A few fragments of other paintings by Guariento remain in Padua.

In the gallery of Bassano del Grappa is a Crucifixion piece, carefully executed, and somewhat superior to a merely traditional method of handling, although on the whole Guariento must rather be classed in that school of art which preceded Cimabue than as having advanced in his vestiges; likewise two other works in Bassano, ascribed to the same hand. The painter is buried in the church of San Bernardino, Padua.