Francesco Squarcione, c. (1395 - died 1470)

• Was an Italian artist from Padua.
• There are only two works signed by him: the Madonna and Child (now in Berlin) and the Lazara Altarpiece (now in Padua).
• Squarcione, whose original vocation was tailoring, appears to have had a remarkable enthusiasm for ancient art, and a faculty for acting.
• Squarcione was interested in ancient Rome; he travelled in Italy, and perhaps Greece, collecting antique statues, reliefs, vases, and other works of art, forming a collection of such works.
• Based on this collection, he undertook works on commission for which his pupils no less than himself were made available.
• As many as 137 painters and pictorial students passed through his school, established in 1431 and which became famous all over Italy.
• His pupils included Andrea Mantegna, Cosimo Tura and Carlo Crivelli.
• Squarcione's favorite pupil was Mantegna.
• Squarcione taught Mantegna the Latin language and instructed him to study fragments of Roman.
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