Bartolomeo Caporali
[1] His most famous works include Madonna and Saints (1487) for the church of Santa Maria Maddalena at Castiglione del Lago, The Virgin and Child Between Two Praying Angels, and his Adoration of the Shepherds.
He was prior of his town, camerlingo to the Company of Illuminators, was elected captain of the people and held leadership positions in the Umbria Painters Guild multiple times throughout his career.
Although Caporali's work was best known within Umbria, he constantly collaborated with provincial Renaissance painters in order to learn, network and develop his style.
This can be seen in the particular detailing in his figure's clothes in order to give substance and differentiate between fabrics; his angels’ robes have a velvety thickness, and his Madonnas have complex double drapes painted onto her cloaks.
Strong hints of gold in the flesh, large infantile eyes with hard blackish lines under the upper lids, overlong fingers, and sensitive mouths drawn by long parallel brushstrokes are all details that define his work.
[4] Additionally, in the late 15th century, an important local school of painting developed in Perugia, its principal exponents including Benedetto Bonfigli, Bartolomeo Caporali, Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, Bernadro Pinturicchio and later the great Perugino.
In fact, modern art historians have trouble discerning between their early works due to their strong resemblances in technique, most likely because they were educated under like influences, if not the same master.
[5] From this point forward Bartolomeo received many commissions and expanded his network by collaborating on projects with celebrated artists such as Giapeco, Boccati and Bonfigli.
His willingness to collaborate as well as master new techniques and skills in order to reach broader markets speaks to his talent as a networker and businessman.
The linear drawing and complex treatment in the folds of the clothes call to Bonfigli's work, indicating that he and Caporali had a professional relationship far before their first known collaboration in 1467.
[5] His Virgin and Child with Six Angels appears to be the first picture painted in oils in this town, an honor which until discovered had been bestowed by Vasari to Perugino.
The use of oil paint allowed him to pay greater attention to details through the use of new calligraphic tools, a skill he picked up from Bernardino Pintoricchio, who spent time in Bartolomeo's workshop a few years earlier.
During his time in this position, he painted a miniature representing the Annunciation in the choral books of the Monastery of San Pietro at Perugia.
As a result, there has been a tendency to grant attributions around the few recognizable artistic personalities of the period, when in fact they could belong to lesser-known masters such as Caporali.
It would reveal the use of ideas from Paduan and Marchigian sources within pictorial structures that reference the work of Benozzo Gozzoli, combined with a determined effort to master the style of Perugino.
