MORETTO DA BRESCIA, mecrOt'til da brEtsh'a (1498-1555). An Italian painter, {Those real name was Alessandro llonvicino. He was born at Brescia in 1498, and obtained his early art education in this city under Fioravante Fer ramola. Later lie is thought to have received stimulus from the works of Titian. In 1521, when twenty-three years of age, in frescoes exe cuted in the Chapel of San Giovanni Evangelista at Brescia. he showed himself strong in concep tion and handling of form, and endowed with a genius for color harmony exceptional even in the Venetian school. His works are pervaded by a characteristic silvery tone. which foreshadowed Paul Veronese, but differ from that painter in the gravity of his conception and the reverent religious feeling in his sacred compositions.
Between -1521 and 154-1 Morello executed many paintings in and about Brescia, where his works may best be studied. Among the principal are: the altar-piece of San Clemente, Brescia,represent ing "Saints with a Choir of Angels ;" "The As cension of Mary," in Santi Nazaro e Celso; and "Mary Appearing to a Shepherd Boy," in the Church of Paitone (Province of In 1544 he painted his celebrated "Christ in the I-louse of the Pharisee" for Santa Maria della Pieta, Venice, a work virile in presentation and pleasing in composition. Other important works
are contained in the galleries of Italy and North ern Europe. The Staedel Institute, Frankfort, possesses a fine altar-piece representing the "En throned Madonna with the Four Doctors;" and the Berlin :Museum has "The Glory of Mary and Elizabeth!' There are also typical examples in the Imperial Gallery, Vienna, the National Gal lery. London, the Ilrera, Milan, and in the Louvre. Moretto died at Brescia in 1555. Among his pupils. the most important was Giambattista Moroni of Bergamo. Consult Crowe and Caval easelle. History of Painting in the North of Italy (London, 1891).