Vittoriano
The anonymous author of the Madonna della noce belongs to the Umbro-Abruzzese cultural context of the early 16th century, a period in which the most prominent personality was Saturnino Gatti.
Saturnino Gatti (San Vittorino, L'Aquila, circa 1463 – 1518) was a painter and sculptor, son of Giovanni Gatti, also from San Vittorino.
According to some documents, on May 4, 1477, when he was about fourteen years old, Gatti began his artistic training with Silvestro di Giacomo da Sulmona, known as Silvestro dell'Aquila, a multifaceted artist active as both a painter and sculptor.
His first documented work dates back to March 1488, when he committed to painting a chapel in the church of San Domenico in L'Aquila for Pier Benedetto di Pietro da Pizzoli. In subsequent years, he worked in various churches in central Italy, creating frescoes and paintings in San Panfilo in Tornimparte, in the Celestini convent of Santa Caterina in Terranova di Calabria, and in the church of Santa Maria della Plebe.
Scholars hypothesize that Gatti was trained in a cultural environment close to Perugino, due to the refinement and style of his works, which show Umbrian influences (such as those of the young Perugino, Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, and Pier Matteo d'Amelia), Roman influences (Antoniazzo Romano, Melozzo da Forlì), and also from the Verrocchio school. This mix of both Umbrian and local models contributed to forming his personal and recognizable style.
Among his most important pictorial works from the early 16th century are the frescoes of the Madonna con il Bambino e due angeli, now preserved at the National Museum of L'Aquila, and those with Saint Anthony of Padua, Saint Blaise, Saint Anthony Abbot, and the Madonna che allatta il Bambino in the church of Santa Maria Assunta ad Assergi.
In the last years of his life, Gatti increasingly dedicated himself to sculpture, particularly terracotta works. These include a prominent Saint Anthony Abbot and a Madonna che allatta il Bambino in the church of Santa Maria del Ponte in Tione, as well as several terracotta Madonnas created for churches in L'Aquila, such as Santa Maria di Collemaggio, San Bernardino, and the Navelli area.
During the final years of his career, he also worked on two important sculptures: a Saint Sebastiano incoronato da due angeli in wood for the Confraternity of San Sebastiano in L'Aquila, and a Pietà con i santi Giovanni e Maddalena in terracotta for the cathedral of Ascoli. Both works, however, remained unfinished due to his death in 1518.
