Domenico di Zanobi

Coronation of the Virgin by Domenico di Zanobi, Museo della Misericordia (San Miniato), circa 1480

Domenico di Zanobi, also Master of the Johnson Nativity, (fl. 1460-1499) was an Italian painter. His exact dates of birth and death or not known.

Initially the artist was only known by the nickname Master of the Johnson Nativity. Florentine scholar Cristina Acidini Luchinat identified this anonymous artist in 1992 as Dominic di Zenobi who was a contemporary of Filippo Lippi, and worked as his assistant in Florence and Prato. His activity is attested between 1460 and 1481. Active in Prato in 1460, Zanobi returned to work in Florence, where he entered the studio of Paolo Uccello in Via delle Terme. He collaborated with several Florentine artists, including Filippino Lippi and Domenico di Michelino.

His style evolved through contact with the works of Andrea del Castagno, Alesso Baldovinetti and Sandro Botticelli. The art scholar Bernard Berenson regarded him as a follower of Cosimo Rosselli.

References

• Cristina Acidini Luchinat, History, art, faith in the churches of Florence, Giunti Publishing, Florence 2001, p. 53.