Italian, 14th century, male. Born between 1289 and 1309, in Bologna; died before 1361. Painter, sculptor (wood). Bolognese School. Vitale d'Aimo de Cavalli was the founder and principal of the Bologna School. He is best known for a polyptych completed in 1353 for the church of S Salvatore. Although there are clear traces of Umbrian and Sienese influences in his work, he also appears to have been intrigued by French miniatures. His frescoes for Mezzaratta (Pinacoteca, Bologna) exhibit a compositional vigour and a pronounced sense of rhythm, notably in the rendering of the angels dancing around the Virgin and Child, while his decorative compositions for a chapel in the church of S Maria dei Servi are sumptuous and almost miniaturist in terms of their close attention to detail and their subtle use of colour. Vitale accentuated the Gothic style, anticipating to a degree the 'international' manner that would emerge towards the end of the 14th and beginning of the 15th centuries....