Andrea Calamech (1524-1589) was an Italian sculptor and architect.

Life

Born in

Carrara Carrara ( , ; , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, in central Italy, of the province of Massa and Carrara, and notable for the white or blue-grey marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione River, some Boxing the compass, west-northwest o ...

, he became a student and studio assistant of

Bartolomeo Ammannati Bartolomeo Ammannati (18 June 151113 April 1592) was an Italian architect and sculptor, born at Settignano, near Florence. He studied under Baccio Bandinelli and Jacopo Sansovino (assisting on the design of the Library of St. Mark's, the ''Bibli ...

, who was himself heavily influenced by

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...

. For the first part of his life he worked as a sculptor in

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze''). Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...

, collaborating with Ammannati on the Fountain of Neptune in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

. He was summoned to

Messina Messina (, also , ) is a harbour city and the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of more than 219,000 inhabitants in ...

in 1563 to oversee works on

Messina Cathedral Messina Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Messina; Basilica Cattedrale metropolitana di Santa Maria Assunta) is a Roman Catholic cathedral located in Messina, Sicily. Formerly the episcopal seat of the Diocese of Messina, it became in 1986 the archiepisc ...

. After a short spell back in Florence (where he was one of the designers of the apparatus for

's funeral ceremonies in 1564) and Carrara, he returned to Messina, where in 1567 he was made chief architect, city planner and sculptor to the city council, a role he fulfilled for over twenty years. He founded a Florentine art school in the city along with a dynasty of artists, working in Messina with his son Francesco and various relations such as his nephew Lazzaro Calamech and his son-in-law Rinaldo Bonanno. He died in Messina and is buried there in the church of Santa Maria dell'Idria.

Works

Many of his works in Messina were lost in the 1908 earthquake. The only complete surviving work by him is the

Mannerist Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, ...

1572 bronze monument to Don John of Austria in the piazza in front of Santissima Annunziata dei Catalani church. His main work was the various works sculpted for Messina Cathedral - traces of them survive marked by his Mannerism embellished with classical forms. He also produced several fountains and statues of saints and of the Madonna and Child for churches in the city and province of Messina.

City of Messina

Province of Messina

Province of Catania

Province of Calabria

All 16th century: * ''Charles V's Triumphal Entry into Seminara'', ''Battle of Figurella'' and ''Coat of Arms of the Catholic Kings'' (recorded in

Seminara ''For people with the surname, see Seminara (surname).'' Seminara is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Reggio Calabria in the Italian region Calabria, located about southwest of Catanzaro and about northeast of Reggio Calabria. Semi ...

- the third of the works was commissioned by

Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba (1 September 1453 – 2 December 1515) was a Spanish general and statesman who led successful military campaigns during the Conquest of Granada and the Italian Wars. His military victories and widespread po ...

)

References

Bibliography

* ''Dizionario biografico degli italiani'', XVI, Roma, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia italiana, 1973 * Giuseppe Grosso Cacopardo
"Guida per la città di Messina"
Messina, Giuseppe Fiumara, 1841. {{DEFAULTSORT:Calamech, Andrea 16th-century Italian architects 16th-century Italian sculptors People from Carrara 1524 births 1589 deaths