page_title: Bernardo Bitti
section_title: Career
hierarchical_section_title: Bernardo Bitti / Career
caption_attribution_description: "Coronación de la Virgen"
context_page_description: Democrito Bernardo Bitti was an Italian Jesuit priest and painter. He introduced Mannerism to Peru, where he went on a Jesuit mission after having studied in Rome. On his way to Peru, Bitti traveled through Spain, where he became influenced by Sevillian painting, especially that of Luis de Morales. Bitti arrived in Peru in 1575 and started painting for churches first in Lima and from 1583 in Cusco. His works in Lima include the typically Mannerist Coronation of the Virgin and The Virgin of the Candelaria for St. Peter's Church. The Immaculate Conception was a recurring theme in his paintings, one of which is in the Monastery of the Merced in Cusco. In addition to Mannerism, his works reflect ideas of the Counter-Reformation and religious education of the natives. After 1584, Bitti traveled all over South America, painting where he went. His mobile lifestyle was a testament to his popularity with the Jesuits, but it led to Bitti's being unable to set up a workshop or have apprentices. Nevertheless, his influence in the region was immense, and resulted in Mannerism persisting in South America even when it had fallen out of favor in Europe.
context_section_description: Democrito Bernardo Bitti was born in Camerino, Italy in 1548. Few details about his life in Europe are known. He became a painter at an early age and as a teenager he moved to Rome to study painting for a period of five years. His studies focused on Italian Mannerism. At the age of 20, in 1568, Bitti became a Jesuit and relocated to the novitiate of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale, also in Rome, where he stayed until 1573. He might have painted some works there, but none survive.
  Meanwhile, the Jesuit mission in the Viceroyalty of Peru had asked for Rome to send them skilled painters. Bitti was identified as the best one available; his Jesuit background would make him the ideal painter of altarpieces. Thus Bitti was commissioned on a Jesuit mission to Peru in 1571, becoming the first artist to travel on a Jesuit mission to South America. The expedition party traveled through Spain on their way to Peru. It is not known precisely what Bitti did during his stay in Spain, but it appears that he had the opportunity to study Sevillian painting for 14 months. It has been subsequently noted that his paintings resemble particularly those of the painter Luis de Morales, probably through seeing his works rather than by training with him. Influence by Giuseppe Valeriano is also attested. The Jesuit party arrived in Peru in 1575, where Bitti introduced Mannerism to the country. He became a very sought after artist because of the novelty of his style in the new continent. One of Bitti's first tasks was to paint a collection for the Jesuit college and St. Peter's Church in Lima. His paintings in the church include Coronation of the Virgin and The Virgin of the Candelaria. Bitti also made a retable in St. Peter's Church. He stayed in Lima for eight years, working.
  In 1583, Bitti moved to Cusco, where he stayed until the end of 1584. There he painted Immaculate Conception and constructed a high altar, both for the Jesuit church of Cusco. For its Indian chapel, he painted a setting the Last Judgment, now lost, the sight of which persuaded many natives to convert, according to Inca Garcilaso de la Vega writing in 1612. Later in his career, Bitti traveled through Spanish America including Potosí, Arequipa, Juli, Acora, La Paz, Sucre, and Chucuito. Most of his works were made in Juli. Of his paintings, only those in Peru remain. Bitti collaborated with other artists, including his fellow Jesuit Pedro de Vargas, in art projects all over the Peru. These collaborations included the sculptural support for many retablos.
caption: Coronation of the Virgin
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