Girolamo Sartonio, also known as Hieronimo Sartorio and Geronimo Sartorio (died April 1707 in Venice), was an innovative Italian architect and engineer who worked mainly the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

cities of

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

and

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits i ...

. His designs were based on Palladian architecture. He was a noted expert in the installation of stage equipment and theatrical machinery and also worked as a builder or consulting architect on the construction of various opera houses, such as the

Oper am Gänsemarkt The Oper am Gänsemarkt was a theatre in Hamburg, Germany, built in 1678 after plans of Girolamo Sartorio at the Gänsemarkt square. It was the first public opera house to be established in Germany: not a court opera, as in many other towns. E ...

in Hamburg. He is also credited with the beginnings of

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

in Leipzig and the construction of the opera house in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

.Melania Bucciarelli, Norbert Dubowy, Reinhard Strohm:
Italian Opera in Central Europe
'. Vol 1. Berlin: Berliner-Wissenschafts-Verlag, 2006. p. 84

Family

Born in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

, Girolamo was the brother of Venetian composers Antonio Sartorio (1630–1680) and Gasparo Sartorio (1625–1680). In 1673 he married Emerantia Gertrud von Wintheim, the daughter of Erich von Wintheim, in Hanover and he became a citizen of the principality in 1674.

Life and work

Between 1667 and 1685 Sartorio was the Building Administrator german: Bauverwalter in the service of

John Frederick, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg John Frederick (german: Johann Friedrich; 25 April 1625 in Herzberg am Harz – 18 December 1679 in Augsburg) was duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. He ruled over the Principality of Calenberg, a subdivision of the duchy, from 1665 until his death. T ...

and then

Ernest Augustus, Elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg Ernest Augustus (german: Ernst August; 20 November 1629 – 23 January 1698) was ruler of the Principality of Lüneburg from 1658 and of the Principality of Calenberg from 1679 until his death, and father of George I of Great Britain. He was app ...

. During his time he led significant construction projects that beautified the city, including the expansion of the

Herrenhausen Gardens The Herrenhausen Gardens (german: Herrenhäuser Gärten, ) of Herrenhausen Palace, located in Herrenhausen, an urban district of Lower Saxony's capital of Hanover are made up of the Great Garden (), the Berggarten, the Georgengarten and th ...

and

Leineschloss The Leineschloss (English: Leine Palace), situated on the Leine in Hanover, Germany, is the former residence of the Hanoverian dukes, electors and kings. Currently it is the seat of the Landtag of Lower Saxony. The first building on the site w ...

Palace, where he installed a theater and worked on external decorations, the Kapuzinerflügel wing and the court chapel. He also designed the bridge from the Leineschloss across the

Leine The Leine (; Old Saxon ''Lagina'') is a river in Thuringia and Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Aller and the Weser and is long. The river's source is located close to the town of Leinefelde in Thuringia. About downriver, ...

River and the Neustädter Kirche, built 1667 to 1670 as an early

aisleless church An aisleless church (german: Saalkirche) is a single-nave church building that consists of a single hall-like room. While similar to the hall church, the aisleless church lacks aisles or passageways on either side of the nave and separated fr ...

. He presented a model for the Parnaßbrunnen fountain on the Neustädter Markt in 1671. During his time in Hanover he wrote a report for the construction of a library in

Wolfenbüttel Wolfenbüttel (; nds, Wulfenbüddel) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, the administrative capital of Wolfenbüttel District. It is best known as the location of the internationally renowned Herzog August Library and for having the largest ...

, on a request of

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz . ( – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent figures in both the history of philosophy and the history of math ...

, then a librarian there. Sartorio was then called to design the first public opera house in Germany and first opera house in Hamburg, the

, and construct the stage. It opened in 1678. In 1692/93 he was in Leipzig, where he established the first opera theatre of the city on the Brühl, opened in 1693. From 1696 he worked in

as Oberbaumeister, responsible for military buildings from 1704.

Literature

* Wilhelm Rothert, A. Rothert, M. Peters: ''Hannoversche Biographie'', vol. 3: ''Hannover unter dem Kurhut, 1645–1815'', Hannover 1912, p. 514 * Eduard Schuster: ''Kunst und Künstler in den Fürstentümern Calenberg und Lüneburg in der Zeit von 1636–1727'', Hannover 1905, p. 204 * Helmut Zimmermann: ''Zur Herkunft italienischer Kunsthandwerker im norddeutschen Barock'', in: ''Niederdeutsche Beiträge zur Kunstgeschichte'', vol. 34 (1995), p. 150f * Bernd Adam: ''Neue Funde zum barocken Ausbau der Schlossanlage in Hannover-Herrenhausen'', in: ''Niederdeutsche Beiträge zur Kunstgeschichte'', vol. 40 (2001), p. 61–66

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sartorio, Girolamo Republic of Venice architects 1707 deaths 17th-century Italian architects Italian expatriates in Germany Year of birth missing Engineers from Venice Architects from Hanover