Bicci

Bicci refers to a Florentine family of painters who operated a workshop in Florence during the late medieval and early Renaissance periods. The name is attached to several artists whose efforts helped carry Florentine painting from the International Gothic style toward early Renaissance naturalism. Works attributed to the Bicci workshop include religious panel paintings and altarpieces produced for churches and convents, as well as donor portraits.

The best-known members are Bicci di Lorenzo and Neri di Bicci. Bicci di Lorenzo (active in the early 15th century) led a large studio that trained a generation of painters; Neri di Bicci later continued the workshop and produced numerous devotional panels that circulated in Florence and its environs. The work of these artists is characterized by clear outlines, solid figural construction, and gradually increasing naturalism and use of spatial illusion, reflecting a transition from Gothic to early Renaissance aesthetics.

Attributions for Bicci works are sometimes uncertain because the workshop produced collaboratively and artists often reworked each other's panels. Surviving works can be found in Florentine churches and in regional collections, and some pieces have been reattributed as study methods improved.

The Bicci family's role illustrates the importance of workshop-based production in medieval and early Renaissance Florence, and their transmission of styles and techniques to later generations of Florentine painters.