![St](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/St._John_the_Baptist_by_Benedetto_da_Maiano.jpg)
Benedetto da Maiano (1442 – May 24, 1497) was an
Italian Early Renaissance sculptor
Italian Renaissance sculpture was an important part of the art of the Italian Renaissance, in the early stages arguably representing the leading edge. The example of Ancient Roman sculpture hung very heavily over it, both in terms of style and t ...
.
Biography
Born in the village of
Maiano
Maiano is small hilltop locality, now part of Fiesole, in Tuscany.
The Chiesa di San Martino was founded there in the eleventh century and subsequently restored in the fifteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. A '' palagio'' existed at Ma ...
(now part of
Fiesole
Fiesole () is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Florence in the Italian region of Tuscany, on a scenic height above Florence, 5 km (3 miles) northeast of that city. It has structures dating to Etruscan and Roman times.
Sin ...
), he started his career as companion of his brother, the architect
Giuliano da Maiano
Giuliano da Maiano (1432–1490) was an Italian architect, intarsia-worker, and sculptor, the elder brother of Benedetto da Maiano, with whom he often collaborated.
Biography
He was born in the village of Maiano, near Fiesole, where his fathe ...
. When he reached the age of thirty he started training under the sculptor
Antonio Rossellino
Antonio Gamberelli (1427–1479), Janson, H.W. (1995) ''History of Art''. 5th edn. Revised and expanded by Anthony F. Janson. London: Thames & Hudson, p. 465. nicknamed Antonio Rossellino for the colour of his hair, was an Italian Renaissance ...
. There he learned to work with marble and eventually became more famous than Rossellino and one of the most important sculptors of the 15th century. During his early life he specialised in wood-mosaic, with the
Studiolo of Federico da Montefeltro and other works.
King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary invited him to his court, and it is said that the destruction on the journey of some inlay work he was taking to his royal patron made him decide to seek more durable material.
His early attributed works include a shrine dedicated to San Savino for the
cathedral of Faenza. Although he was more prolific in sculpting religious subjects, he also carved some portraits of important
Florentines; for instance, in 1474, the bust of Pietro Mellini in the
Bargello
The Bargello, also known as the Palazzo del Bargello, Museo Nazionale del Bargello, or Palazzo del Popolo (Palace of the People), was a former barracks and prison, now an art museum, in Florence, Italy.
Terminology
The word ''bargello'' appears ...
.
In 1475, he worked with his brother Giuliano on the
Collegiata church in
San Gimignano
San Gimignano () is a small walled medieval hill town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, north-central Italy. Known as the Town of Fine Towers, San Gimignano is famous for its medieval architecture, unique in the preservation of about a dozen of ...
. Benedetto's most important contribution was the carved altar in the
chapel of Santa Fina
The Saint Fina Chapel ( it, links=no, Cappella di Santa Fina) is an Early Renaissance chapel in the right aisle of the Collegiate church of Santa Maria Assunta, located in San Gimignano, Tuscany, Italy. It was designed by Giuliano and Benedetto ...
.
In 1480, he made the framework of the doorway of the
Palazzo Vecchio
The Palazzo Vecchio ( "Old Palace") is the City hall, town hall of Florence, Italy. It overlooks the Piazza della Signoria, which holds a copy of Michelangelo's ''David (Michelangelo), David'' statue, and the gallery of statues in the adjacent ...
in Florence. The marble
pulpit
A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, access ...
in the
Santa Croce in Florence is considered his masterpiece. On the pulpit are scenes from the life of
St. Francis of Assisi
Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, better known as Saint Francis of Assisi ( it, Francesco d'Assisi; – 3 October 1226), was a mystic Italian Catholic friar, founder of the Franciscans, and one of the most venerated figures in Christianit ...
. Also in 1480, with his brother Giuliano, he built and made the sculptures for the little oratory of the Madonna dell'Olivo, outside
Prato
Prato ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Italy, the capital of the Province of Prato. The city lies in the north east of Tuscany, at the foot of Monte Retaia, elevation , the last peak in the Calvana chain. With more than 200,000 i ...
. The adolescent ''St. John'' of the Bargello is ascribed to the year 1481.
In 1489 Benedetto designed the
Strozzi Palace in Florence which still stands (continued by
Cronaca). It is believed he went to
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
in 1490, and there finished the works begun by Rossellino in the
Sant'Anna church. He also executed various sculptures in Naples, among them an Annunciation at the church of Monte Oliveto. As an architect, he created the
tomb of Filippo Strozzi, with its
roundel
A roundel is a circular disc used as a symbol. The term is used in heraldry, but also commonly used to refer to a type of national insignia used on military aircraft, generally circular in shape and usually comprising concentric rings of differ ...
of Mother and Child supported by
cherub
A cherub (; plural cherubim; he, כְּרוּב ''kərūḇ'', pl. ''kərūḇīm'', likely borrowed from a derived form of akk, 𒅗𒊏𒁍 ''karabu'' "to bless" such as ''karibu'', "one who blesses", a name for the lamassu) is one of the u ...
s in the church of
Santa Maria Novella
Santa Maria Novella is a church in Florence, Italy, situated opposite, and lending its name to, the city's main railway station. Chronologically, it is the first great basilica in Florence, and is the city's principal Dominican church.
The chu ...
in Florence, and the portico of
Santa Maria delle Grazie in
Arezzo
Arezzo ( , , ) , also ; ett, 𐌀𐌓𐌉𐌕𐌉𐌌, Aritim. is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of above sea level. ...
.
He died in Florence at the age of 55.
See also
*
Master of the Marble Madonnas
The Master of the Marble Madonnas was the name given to an unidentified sculptor, or perhaps group of sculptors, active in the Tuscan region of Italy between c. 1470 and c.1500. He is thought to have been responsible for a group of stylisticall ...
Notes
Sources
External links
''Leonardo da Vinci: anatomical drawings from the Royal Library, Windsor Castle'' exhibition catalog fully online as PDF from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on Benedetto da Maiano (see index)
''The Gubbio Studiolo and its conservation, volumes 1 & 2'' from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Benedetto da Maiano (see index)
*Carl Brandon Strehlke,
''Putto Carrying a Festoon'' by Benedetto da Maino (cat. 1133)” in
The John G. Johnson Collection: A History and Selected Works', a Philadelphia Museum of Art free digital publication
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maiano, Benedetto Da
1442 births
1497 deaths
People from Fiesole
15th-century Italian sculptors
Italian male sculptors
Renaissance sculptors
Catholic sculptors