Giovanni del Biondo

Giovanni del Biondo (d. 1399) was from Casentino; when he came to Florence he worked in the studio of Nardo di Cione. He eventually specialized in religious panel paintings, with a distinctive spiky style and sense of design that has made it easy for art historians to identify paintings by his hand, even though all but two are unsigned. Most of his work has gone elsewhere, but see his Life of St Catherine in the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo and his Annunciation altarpiece in the Galleria dell’Accademia.