Pietro Novelli
Pietro Novelli (2 March 1603 – 27 August 1647) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in Palermo. Also known as il Monrealese or Pietro "Malta" Novelli to distinguish him from his father, Pietro Antonio Novelli. He was also nicknamed by contemporaries as the Raphael of Sicily.
Also recorded as il Monrealese · Pietro Giovanni Novelli · Morclese · Monrealese Novelli
Pietro Novelli

Jl FilpoC · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Name
- Pietro Novelli
- Born
- 2 March 1603
- Birthplace
- Monreale, Sicily
- Died
- 27 August 1647
- Place of death
- Palermo, Sicily
- Known for
- Painting
- Movement
- Baroque
- Training
- Pietro Antonio Novelli Vito Carrera
- Occupation
- painter · architect
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Documentary summary
Pietro Novelli (2 March 1603 – 27 August 1647) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in Palermo. Also known as il Monrealese or Pietro "Malta" Novelli to distinguish him from his father, Pietro Antonio Novelli. He was also nicknamed by contemporaries as the Raphael of Sicily.
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Authority files
wikidata · Q1394894 · wikipedia · Pietro Novelli
In this article
Biography
Biography
The field of work recorded is painting. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are history. Work by Pietro Novelli is recorded in the collections of Museo del Prado, Art Institute of Chicago, J. Paul Getty Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art and National Galleries Scotland.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Pietro Novelli • Born — 2 March 1603 • Birthplace — Monreale, Sicily • Died — 27 August 1647 • Place of death — Palermo, Sicily • Known for — Painting • Movement — Baroque • Training — Pietro Antonio Novelli Vito Carrera
Biography
Biography
He was born in Monreale and died in Palermo. He initially trained with his father, a painter and mosaicist. His father died in 1625 from the bubonic plague. As a young apprentice he was a fellow pupil with Gerardo Astorino. In 1618, he moved to Palermo and apprenticed with Vito Carrera and studied perspective with the mathematician Carlo Maria Ventimiglia. His first dated work is from 1626: St. Anthony Abbot for the church of Sant'Antonio Abate in Palermo. The development of his style owed much to Anthony van Dyck, who visited Sicily in 1624 and whose altarpiece, the Madonna of the Rosary in the oratory of Santa Maria del Rosario in Palermo, was highly influential for local artists. Also important for Novelli's artistic development was the time he spent in Rome and Naples c. 1630/31–3. In Rome he probably studied the works of Raphael and Michelangelo, of Caravaggio and the Bolognese painters (especially Giovanni Lanfranco and Domenichino), Pietro da Cortona, Nicolas Poussin and Diego Velázquez. In Naples he came into contact with the works of Jusepe de Ribera and with the contemporary Neapolitan naturalist painters, and he was deeply affected by the art of Andrea Vaccaro and Massimo Stanzione. A direct influence from Caravaggio can be seen in the fresco of Daniel in the Lions' Den (Naples, San Martino delle Scale), where the angel is derived from that in Caravaggio's Nativity (Palermo, San Lorenzo). Novelli returned to Sicily in 1637. Probably soon thereafter he painted Judith and Holofernes (Royal Palace of Naples), which shows his close links with Artemisia Gentileschi and Ribera. The Trinity Sending the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin (Naples, Museo di Capodimonte), which also postdates his time in Naples, is an eclectic work in which the elegance and idealism of van Dyck blend with the naturalism of Caravaggio or Ribera. Other works of the 1630s, which opened the most productive phase of Novelli's career, include the canvas of St. Benedict Distributing Bread to the Religious Orders (Monreale, abbey of San Martino), the Virgin with St. Rosalie and St. John the Baptist (c. 1635; Palermo, Galleria Regionale della Sicilia) and St. John the Baptist Preaching (Palermo, San Giovanni alla Guilla). At the end of the 1630s and the beginning of the 1640s, he produced some fresco cycles (e.g. Life of Viceroy Moncada, 1637–40; Palermo, Palazzo dei Normanni), in which the influences of Guido Reni, Lanfranco and, especially, Domenichino are discernible. In the last years of his life, he painted for the church of San Matteo in Palermo the Presentation in the Temple and the Marriage of the Virgin (1647).[1] Novelli was injured during the revolution in Palermo in 1647, and died from his wounds. His pupils included Andrea Carreca, Francesco Maggiotto, Francesco Giselli, Michele Blasco, Vincenzo Marchese, Giacomo lo Verde, and Macri da Girgenti. He was also an architect and stage set designer.
Gallery
Gallery
• Illustration — Resurrection of Lazarus, Museo del Prado, Madrid • Illustration — The Coronation of Saint Casimir, Galleria Regionale della Sicilia, Palermo • Illustration — Lot and his Family, Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Madrid • Illustration — Saint Rosalia, Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, Madrid • Illustration — The Archangel Gabriel, Museo di Capodimonte, Naples • Illustration — The Holy Trinity, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest • Illustration — Cain killing Abel, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh • Illustration — Saint Rosalia, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Identity and origins
Identity and origins
The authorities additionally record the headings il Monrealese, Pietro Giovanni Novelli, Morclese, Monrealese Novelli and Morealese. One child is recorded: Rosalia Novelli.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1603
Pietro Novelli was born in 1603 at Monreale.
1647
Pietro Novelli died in 1647 at Palermo.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Monreale.
Birth place
Palermo.
Death place
Where the work is held
Recognition and collections
Paul Getty Museum and Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Literature
Literature
Literature
Novelli, Pietro, Oxford Art Online, 2003
Novelli, Pietro Giovanni, Benezit Dictionary of Artists, 2011
Novelli, Pietro Antonio III, Benezit Dictionary of Artists, 2011
Novelli, Pietro Antonio II, Benezit Dictionary of Artists, 2011
Novelli, Pietro Antonio I, Benezit Dictionary of Artists, 2011
Scholarly footprint
Literature
Scholarly footprint
A count of publications is evidence of attention, not of standing, and is given here only as a measure.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.XI Mostra di opere d'arte restaurate (exh. cat., ed. T. Viscuso; Palermo, Sopr. Gal., 1980).
Bibliography printed in the source article · 9
- cite book
- Gallo, Agostino. Elogio storico di Pietro Novelli da Morreale in Sicilia pittore, architetto, ed incisori. Reale Stamperia. 1830.
- Bryan, Michael. Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, Biographical and Critical. George Bell and Sons. II L-Z. 217. 1889.
- cite book
- cite journal
- Finaldi, Gabriele. La "Resurrección de Lázaro" de Pietro Novelli, il Monrealese. Boletín del Museo del Prado. 24. 42. 2006.
- cite web
- cite web
- cite web
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q1394894: Pietro NovelliWikimedia Foundation
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Design
11,558 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
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- Pietro Paolo FlorianiDesigner
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