Pietro Antonio Ferro
His works on the Church of Saint Mary of Carmel and Church of St Clare on Tricarico
Was a painter of Lucanian origins but trained outside that region, who dominated the artistic world of Basilicata between the end of the 16th century and the first thirty years of the 17th with a great number of works inspired by the Counter-Reformation, concentrated in the Dioceses of Tricarico and of Acerenza-Matera and completed over a period of around forty years, attracting to him an appreciable number of assistants, among whom were his sons Carlo e Gio. Battista. Very few biographical facts about him are known. A document of 1601 describes him as "de terra Ferrandina" and another one of 1622 "pictor de Tricarico", the town where he had his workshop. He was trained in Rome, assimilating the artistic culture that grew out of the construction of the Sistine Library and of the great artists of the age, through a series of engravings of their works produced by the Flemish and the Germans (Hans Van Aachen, Cornelis Cort, Egidio Sadeler), that he bought during his periodic returns to the papal city. In an artistically fruitful age for Basilicata, Ferro was an important exponent of Italian Mannerism with his recourse to the paintings by Federico Barocci, Andrea Del Sarto, Federico e Taddeo Zuccari, Baldassarre Peruzzi. His paintings can be admired in many Lucanian towns: Avigliano, Ferrandina, Grottole, Miglionico, Pietrapertosa, Pignola, Pisticci, Pomarico, Tolve but, above all, in Tricarico, where he completed the two treasured cycles of frescoes in the Chapel of the Crucifix (1611) and in the church of St Mary of Carmel (1612), as well as various canvases kept today in the cathedral and in the Diocesan Museum.
Project implemented by:
Arch. Sabrina Lauria Membro Commissione per i Beni Culturali e l'Arte sacra della Diocesi di Tricarico (Coordinamento del progetto ed elaborati grafici), Prof.ssa Carmela Biscaglia Rerefente scientifico Beni storici, archivistici e librari della Diocesi di Tricarico (testi e consulenza storica), Don Nicola Soldo Direttore Ufficio per l'Arte Sacra e i Beni Culturali della Diocesi di Tricarico (consulenza teologica), Carla Coppa Dott.ssa in Storia dell'Arte (supervisore alle riprese e audio), MELDESIGNER.IT di Domenico Di Nobile (Curatore e realizzazione grafica), NAMIAS di Paolo Fedele (Autori scatti fotografici), Prof. Vito Sacco (Traduzioni e audio), FOTO LUX di Franco Ficazzola (Gestione amministrativa e attrezzatura fotografica)
