Trittico (Melfi, Cattedrale)

Born in Tolentino - as his name shows - there are no traces of his life in that city, which he left when he was probably still very young to move to Umbria and lately to Campania, first to Naples and afterwards to a number of peripheral places, and to Puglia (Agro Nolano, Melfi, Serracapriola). There we find his works, many of which autographed and dated by the author. He might have been a pupil of P. Paolo Agabiti, but his painting show the influence of Antonio Solario and and the Umbrian school also.

Deposition

Guilty of manslaughter, he was sentenced to death and afterwards pardoned by pope Julius II. Quite a famous painter, to the extent of having as a guest in his studio Giovanni Andrea de Magistris - one of the leading figures of the school of Caldarola - he was the author of the frescoes of the S. Catervo's Chapel, up to now attributed to Francesco of Tolentino. In these frescoes he shows the influence of the Umbrian school in general, with many references to Pinturicchio and Perugino. Another work of his is the lunette showing a "Deposition", which is part of a big altar-piece created in 1518 in the Church of San Nicola, at present on display in the Opera Museum of the Basilica.

Frescos (Vaccaj Theatre)

He was born in Mogliano son of Filippo who, though born in Tolentino, was municipal doctor in this nearby town. After studying painting in Rome with Mengs and Conca, Giuseppe Lucatelli settled in Tolentino where he made the project of the Vaccaj theatre, enriching it with frescoes and canvases placed in the front part of the first-tier boxes. These canvases are now kept in the Town Hall, the same building that houses a big canvas of his representing the “Three Graces” too. He was drawing-master in many schools in Macerata, Tolentino and Fermo. In 1803 Napoleon Bonaparte sent him to Parma, to copy the renowned Correggio’s frescoes of the Convent of San Paolo, at the time barely known, as they could not be seen being kept in places under strict enclosure.