Alesso Baldovinetti (1425–1499)

• Was an Italian early Renaissance painter and draftsman.

• Baldovinetti was born in Florence to a rich noble family of merchants.

• In 1448 he was registered as a member of the Guild of St. Luke.

• He was a follower of the group of scientific realists and naturalists in art which included Andrea del Castagno, Paolo Uccello and Domenico Veneziano.

• In 1460 Alesso was employed to paint the great fresco of the Annunciation in the cloister of the Annunziata basilica. 

• Two separate statements of Vasari concerning him: that "he delighted in drawing landscapes from nature exactly as they are, whence we see in his paintings rivers; bridges, rocks, plants, fruits, roads, fields, cities, exercise grounds, and an infinity of other such things,".

• In 1463 he furnished a cartoon of the Nativity, which was executed in tarsia by Giuliano de Maiano in the sacristy of the cathedral and still exists.

• He died in the hospital San Paolo, August 29, 1499, and was buried in San Lorenzo. 

• One of his pupils was Domenico Ghirlandaio.

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