Modena, Barnaba Da

Modena, Barnaba da an esteemed Italian painter of the school of Modena, who flourished in the 14th century, was among the first artists who obtained any reputation in Piedmont. Two pictures exist in the Conventuals of Pisa by this master, one in the church and the other in the convent; both portray the Virgin. In the second the coronation is represented, and the Virgin is seen surrounded by St. Francis and other saints of his order. Della Valle speaks in high terms of a third picture of the Virgin, remaining in the possession of the Conventuals of Alba, which he says is in a grander style than any contemporary works; and he states that it bears the date 1357. Morrona extols the beauty of his heads and the delicacy of his coloring, and prefers him to Giotto. Hardly anything is known of his personal history. See Lanzi, Hist. of Painting, transl. by Roscoe (Lond. 1847, 3 volumes, 8vo), 2:345; 3:292; Spooner, Biog. Hist. of the Fine Arts (N.Y. 1865, 2 volumes, 8vo), 2:370.