Andrea dal Monte Sansovino or Andrea Contucci del Monte San Savino (1529) was an Italian
sculptor
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
active during the
High Renaissance
In art history, the High Renaissance was a short period of the most exceptional artistic production in the Italian states, particularly Rome, capital of the Papal States, and in Florence, during the Italian Renaissance. Most art historians stat ...
. His pupils include
Jacopo Sansovino
Jacopo d'Antonio Sansovino (2 July 1486 – 27 November 1570) was an Italian Renaissance sculptor and architect, best known for his works around the Piazza San Marco in Venice. These are crucial works in the history of Venetian Renaissance archi ...
(no relation).
Biography
He was the son of Domenico Contucci of Monte Sansovino, and was born at
Monte San Savino
Monte San Savino is a town and comune in the province of Arezzo, Tuscany (Italy). It is located on the Essa stream in the Valdichiana. Several of its frazioni occupy higher hills, like Gargonza at and Palazzuolo, at an elevation of .
History
M ...
near
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. ...
, hence his name, which is usually softened to Sansovino.
He was a pupil of
Antonio del Pollaiuolo
Antonio del Pollaiuolo ( , , ; 17 January 1429/14334 February 1498), also known as Antonio di Jacopo Pollaiuolo or Antonio Pollaiuolo (also spelled Pollaiolo), was an Italian painter, sculptor, engraver, and goldsmith during the Italian Renai ...
, and at first worked in the style of 15th-century
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 ...
. His early works are the
terra cotta
Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous.
In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...
altarpiece in Santa Chiara at Monte San Savino, and the marble reliefs of the ''Annunciation'', the ''Coronation of the Virgin'', a ''Pietà'', the ''Last Supper'', and various statuettes in the Corbinelli chapel of
Santo Spirito at Florence, all executed between the years 1488 and 1491.
From 1493 to 1500 Andrea worked in
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
for the king, and some pieces of sculpture by him still exist in the monastic church of
Coimbra
Coimbra (, also , , or ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2011 census was 143,397, in an area of .
The fourth-largest urban area in Portugal after Lisbon, Porto Metropolitan Area, Porto, and Bra ...
. These early reliefs show strongly the influence of
Donatello
Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi ( – 13 December 1466), better known as Donatello ( ), was a Republic of Florence, Florentine sculptor of the Renaissance period. Born in Republic of Florence, Florence, he studied classical sculpture and use ...
. His first known works after his return to Rome are a ''Madonna'' and a ''Baptist'' in
Genoa Cathedral
Genoa Cathedral or Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Lawrence ( it, Duomo di Genova, ''Cattedrale di San Lorenzo'') is a Roman Catholic cathedral in the Italy, Italian city of Genoa. It is dedicated to Saint Lawrence (San Lorenzo), and is the sea ...
. The beginning of a more pagan style is shown in the statues of ''St. John Baptizing Christ'' over the east door of the
Battistero di San Giovanni in Florence (1505). This group was, however, finished by the weaker hand of
Vincenzo Danti
Vincenzo Danti (1530 – 26 May 1576) was an Italian Renaissance sculptor from Perugia.
His father was an architect and goldsmith, and Vincenzo developed an interest in drawing and goldsmithing. In 1545 he went to Rome to study sculpture and ...
. In this period he executed the marble font at Volterra, with good reliefs of the ''Four Virtues'' and the ''Baptism of Christ''.
In 1504 Sansovino was invited to Rome by
Pope Julius II
Pope Julius II ( la, Iulius II; it, Giulio II; born Giuliano della Rovere; 5 December 144321 February 1513) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1503 to his death in February 1513. Nicknamed the Warrior Pope or th ...
to make the monument of Cardinal Manzi in
Santa Maria in Aracoeli
The Basilica of St. Mary of the Altar of Heaven ( la, Basilica Sanctae Mariae de Ara coeli in Capitolio, it, Basilica di Santa Maria in Ara coeli al Campidoglio) is a titular basilica in Rome, located on the highest summit of the Campidoglio. I ...
(influenced by the Lombard style of
Andrea Bregno
Andrea di Cristoforo Bregno (1418–1506) was an Italian Renaissance sculptor and architect of the Early Renaissance who worked in Rome from the 1460s and died just as the High Renaissance was getting under way.
Early life
He was born in Osten ...
) and those of Cardinals
Ascanio Maria Sforza
Ascanio Maria Sforza Visconti (3 March 1455 – 28 May 1505) was an Italian Cardinal of the Catholic Church. Generally known as a skilled diplomat who played a major role in the election of Rodrigo Borgia as Pope Alexander VI, Sforza served ...
and
Girolamo Basso della Rovere
Girolamo Basso della Rovere (1434–1507) was an Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.
Life
Basso della Rovere was born in Albissola Marina, the son of Giovanni Basso (Marquess of Bistagno and Monastero) and his wife Luchina del ...
for the retro-choir of
Santa Maria del Popolo it, Basilica Parrocchiale Santa Maria del Popolo
, image = 20140803 Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo Rome 0191.jpg
, caption = The church from Piazza del Popolo
, coordinates =
, image_size ...
. The architectural parts of these monuments and their sculptured foliage are extremely graceful and executed with the most minute delicacy, but the recumbent effigies show the beginning of a serious decline in taste. These tombs became models which for many years were copied by most later sculptors with increasing exaggerations of their defects.
In 1512, while still in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, Sansovino executed a very beautiful group of the ''Madonna and Child with St. Anne'', now over one of the side altars in the church of
Sant'Agostino. From 1513 to 1528 he was at
Loreto, where he cased the outside of the
Santa Casa
The Basilica della Santa Casa ( en, Basilica of the Holy House) is a Marian shrine in Loreto, in the Marches, Italy. The basilica is known for enshrining the house in which the Blessed Virgin Mary is believed by some Catholics to have lived. Pio ...
in white marble, covered with reliefs and statuettes in niches between engaged columns; a small part of this sculpture was the work of Andrea, but the greater part was executed by
Raffaello da Montelupo
Raffaello da Montelupo (c. 1504/1505 – c. 1566/1567), born Raffaele Sinibaldi, was a sculptor and architect of the Italian Renaissance, and an apprentice of Michelangelo. He was the son of another Italian sculptor, Baccio da Montelupo. Both f ...
,
Tribolo and others of his assistants and pupils. Though the general effect is rich and magnificent, the individual pieces of sculpture are both dull and feeble. The earlier reliefs, those by Sansovino himself, are the best.
Works
File:St. John the Baptist by Andrea Sansovino, early 1500s, and Adam, Zaccariah, and Habakkuk, by Matteo Cividali, second half of the 15th century, marble - San Lorenzo (Genoa) - DSC01926.JPG, St. John the Baptist by Andrea Sansovino, early 1500s, (Adam, Zaccariah, and Habakkuk, by Matteo Cividali)
File:Baptism Christ Sansovino OPA Florence.jpg, Baptism Christ, Battistero di San Giovanni,
File:PortaaEst.jpg, The Gates of Paradise, Battistero di San Giovanni,
File:Santa Maria del Popolo Presbyterium Grabmal Ascanio Sforza.JPG, Ascanio Sforza's tomb
File:Casa siviero, sala del maestro della natività johnson, ambito di andrea sansovino, madonna col bambino.JPG, Madonna col bambino
File:Rivestimentolmarmoreosantacasaloreto.jpg
References
*
Giorgio Vasari
Giorgio Vasari (, also , ; 30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance Master, who worked as a painter, architect, engineer, writer, and historian, who is best known for his work ''The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculpt ...
includes a biography of Sansovino in his ''
Lives
Lives may refer to:
* The plural form of a ''life''
* Lives, Iran, a village in Khuzestan Province, Iran
* The number of lives in a video game
* '' Parallel Lives'', aka ''Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans'', a series of biographies of famous m ...
''.
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sansovino, Andrea
Italian Renaissance sculptors
1460s births
1529 deaths
People from Monte San Savino
Sculptors from Tuscany
15th-century Italian sculptors
Italian male sculptors
16th-century Italian sculptors
Catholic sculptors