Decorative painter Alessandro Alberti died in Rome on 10 July 1596. Born in Sansepolcro (then called Borgo San-Sepolcro) in Tuscany in 1551, Alberti was the eldest of three. His brothers were also artists: Cherubino (1553–1615) a decorator and engraver, and Giovanni, a poet and writer who was well-known for his trompe l’oeil ceiling painting (quadratura). alessandro often collaborated with his siblings on such projects as painting rooms at the Vatican commemorating Pope Clement VII (1596) and decorating the Palazzo Tornabuoni in his home city (1588).
On his own Alberti gained commissions to participate in the design of the Bufalini Chapel at Santa Maria in Aracoeli in Rome (1576–7); and to decorate the Palazzo Ducale in Mantua (1586). He traveled to Naples in 1588 to paint and embellish the palace of Don Luigi di Toledo. Many of Alberti’s works are undocumented or perhaps unrealized but were known from sketches kept by his family.
Reference: Janis Callen Bell. “Alberti, Alessandro.” Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press.
Painted detail, Bufalini Chapel, Santa Maria in Aracoeli, Rome, c. 1590. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
Prudence [verso], c. 1596, attributed to the brothers Alberti, The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Gift of William B. O’Neal.
Cherubino Alberti, c. 1588, Winter [The Four Seasons], engraving, The Warburg Institute, University of London.
Painted detail from the ceiling of the Ducal Palace in Mantua, c. 1590. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.