Luca Cancellari
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Luca Cancellari (Luke Cangellaris; Greek: Λουκάς Καγκελλάρης) is a Byzantine icon painter posited in some modern Greek encyclopaedias to have lived during the 12th century in Constantinople, where he painted some of the best icons of Virgin Mary.[1][2][3]
These works ascribe him the creation of icons like:
- the Madonna Nicopeia in St Mark's Basilica, that ended up in Venice after the conquest of Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204,
- the Madonna di San Luca in the namesake Sanctuary, transferred in Bologna in 1160 and bearing the inscription Opus Lucae Cancellari, or as read by Antonio Masini (1599–1691) Cancellarii,[4]
- the Madonna Salus Populi Romani in the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome
- and other with Greek inscriptions of that period.
Giovanni Lami, who strongly opposed that Saint Luke the Evangelist was a painter, thought that the icon of Madonna di San Luca was executed by a certain Luca Santo, a Florentin painter of the 14th century.[5][6] He alleged that Luca Santo was the son of a nominated Cancelliere and considered improbable the claim that this icon was brought from Constantinople.[7]