Niccolò "Nicola" Matas (6 December 1798 – 11 March 1872) was an Italian architect and professor. He is best known for being the architect of the 19th century

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

façade of the

Basilica of Santa Croce The (Italian for 'Basilica of the Holy Cross') is the principal Franciscan church in Florence, Italy, and a minor basilica of the Roman Catholic Church. It is situated on the Piazza di Santa Croce, about 800 meters south-east of the Duomo. The ...

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 ...

, Italy. Matas was a professor at the

Academy of Fine Arts, Florence The Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze ("academy of fine arts of Florence") is an instructional art academy in Florence, in Tuscany, in central Italy. It was founded by Cosimo I de' Medici in 1563, under the influence of Giorgio Vasari. ...

(). He is one of the important architects in the history of the city of Florence.

Early life

Niccolò "Nicola" Matas was born on December 6. 1798 in

Ancona Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic S ...

Marche Marche ( , ) is one of the twenty regions of Italy. In English, the region is sometimes referred to as The Marches ( ). The region is located in the central area of the country, bordered by Emilia-Romagna and the republic of San Marino to the ...

Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...

(now present-day Italy). His family was Jewish and of Spanish descent. He studied at Academy of Fine Arts, Rome (); followed by study at the Academy of Fine Arts, Venice () and the Academy of Fine Arts, Vicenza ().

Career

In 1825, Matas moved to Florence, where he was an academic professor at the Academy of Fine Arts, Florence (), primarily teaching architecture. His architect contemporaries in Tuscany included Gaetano Baccani, Mariano Falcini,

Emilio De Fabris Emilio De Fabris (28 October 1808 – 3 June 1883) was an Italian architect best known for his design of the west facade of Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence. De Fabris was born in Florence, Italy. He initially studied at the Academy of Fine ...

, and Giuseppe Poggi. Matas worked closely with sculptor

Giovanni Dupré Giovanni Dupré (1 March 1817 – 10 January 1882) was an Italian sculptor, of distant French stock long settled in Tuscany, who developed a reputation second only to that of his contemporary Lorenzo Bartolini. Biography Born in Siena, Dupré ...

of Gipsoteca Dupré. He had a working relationship with Anatoly Demidov, 1st Prince of San Donato. From 1857 to 1863, he worked on the design of the façade of Basilica of Santa Croce, where he worked in a prominent

Star of David The Star of David (). is a generally recognized symbol of both Jewish identity and Judaism. Its shape is that of a hexagram: the compound of two equilateral triangles. A derivation of the ''seal of Solomon'', which was used for decorative ...

into the top of the building. The design of the building was said to be influenced by a now-lost drawing by Simone del Pollaiolo, named "il Cronaca". He is also thought to have been inspired by the

Siena Cathedral Siena Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Siena) is a medieval church in Siena, Italy, dedicated from its earliest days as a Roman Catholic Marian church, and now dedicated to the Assumption of Mary. It was the episcopal seat of the Diocese of Siena, and ...

() and

Orvieto Cathedral Orvieto Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Orvieto; Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta) is a large 14th-century Roman Catholic cathedral dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and situated in the town of Orvieto in Umbria, central Italy. Since 198 ...

(). Matas died in Florence on 11 March 1872. His body was moved in 1886, and Matas is buried under the porch at the Basilica of Santa Croce. There is a street named "Via Matas" in Ancona. File:Facciata antica.jpg, Santa Croce, Florence, prior to the design by Matas before 1857 File:Santa Croce (Florence) - Facade.jpg, Santa Croce, Florence, after the design by Matas after 1857

Works

Restorations

* 1826, (), Florence, Tuscany, Italy, he restored the building. * 1834,

Ancona Cathedral Ancona Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Ancona, ''Basilica Cattedrale Metropolitana di San Ciriaco'') is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Ancona, central Italy, dedicated to Saint Cyriacus. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Ancona. The building is an exam ...

(), Ancona, Marche, Italy, he restored the building and the dome with copper * 1836, , Florence, Tuscany, Italy, he restored the building.

New buildings or new portions of buildings

* 1835, , Ancona, Marche, Italy, he worked on the building decorations. * 1842, (),

Bibbiena Bibbiena () is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Arezzo, Tuscany (Italy), the largest town in the valley of Casentino. It is located from Florence, from Arezzo, from Siena, and from the Sanctuary of La Verna. There are approximately 11 ...

, Tuscany, Italy. * 1857–1863, façade of Santa Croce, Florence, Tuscany, Italy. * 1851, ''Demidoff Gallery'' at ,

Elba Island Elba ( it, isola d'Elba, ; la, Ilva) is a Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino on the Italian mainland, and the largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago. It is also part of the Arcipelago Toscano National ...

Portoferraio Portoferraio () is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Livorno, on the edge of the eponymous harbour of the island of Elba. It is the island's largest city. Because of its terrain, many of its buildings are situated on the slopes of a tiny h ...

Province of Livorno The province of Livorno or, traditionally, province of Leghorn ( it, provincia di Livorno) is a province in the Tuscany region of Italy. It includes several islands of the Tuscan Archipelago, including Elba and Capraia. Its capital is the city of ...

, Italy. * 1850–1855, ''

Cimitero delle Porte Sante Cimitero delle Porte Sante (''The Sacred Doors Cemetery'') is a monumental cemetery in Florence located within the fortified bastion of the Basilica of San Miniato al Monte. History The idea of a burial site near San Miniato was conceived ar ...

'', near

San Miniato al Monte San Miniato al Monte (St. Minias on the Mountain) is a basilica in Florence, central Italy, standing atop one of the highest points in the city. It has been described as one of the finest Romanesque structures in Tuscany and one of the most scenic ...

, Florence, Italy

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matas, Niccolò 1798 births 1872 deaths Architects from Florence Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma alumni Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia alumni Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze faculty Jewish architects