AMADEO, Giovanni Antonio

Two Clerics (kneeling and standing, both beautifully carved), were once joined to a Virgin and Child now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Distinctive is their angular, energized drapery, sometimes described as “cartaceous” for its resemblance to crumpled paper. They may have originally been carved for the Arc of the Persian Martyrs, a sculptural complex in the church of San Lorenzo in Cremona made to house relics (parts of saint’s bodies or objects with which they had contact).

This relief comes from the fa�ade of Santa Maria presso San Satiro, Milan.

The detail shows St Martin and other saints.

The picture shows the upper part of the portal. In the central lunette are four Carthusians paying homage to the Virgin and Child, the work of Benedetto Briosco.

The doorway leading from the Small Cloister into the church has a lunette above it showing St John the Baptist and St Bruno presenting four Carthusians at the Virgin’s throne. The pilasters beside the entrance reproduce in marble the terracotta putti round the cloister arcades. The strips of decorative carving at the sides incorporate angels with instruments of the Passion and a little Pietà at the top.

The whole doorway was originally pigmented, and still reveals traces of paint.

The Cappella Colleoni was built in 1472-1476 as the personal shrine for the famous condottiere Bartolomeo Colleoni, a member of one of the most outstanding families of the city, and his beloved daughter Medea. The site chosen was that of the sacristy of the nearby church of Santa Maria Maggiore, which was demolished by Colleoni’s soldiers.

The design was entrusted to Giovanni Antonio Amadeo, whose plan respected the style of the church. The fa�ade is characterized by the use of tarsia and polychrome marble decorations in white, red and black lozenges. Over the main portal is a rose window, flanked by two medallions portraying Julius Caesar and Trajan.

The upper part of the basement has nine plaques with reliefs of Biblical stories, and four bas-reliefs with Hercules’s deeds. The four pilasters of the windows flanking the portal are surmounted by statues of the Virtues. The upper part of the fa�ade has a loggia in Romanesque style.

The church, dedicated to St Satyrus, confessor and brother of Sts Ambrose and Marcellina, was built from 1472 to 1482 under commission from Duchess Bona di Savoia and Duke Gian Galeazzo Sforza. The designer was Donato Bramante, who had recently moved from the Marche. Recent documents prove that the fa�ade was designed by Giovanni Antonio Amadeo.

The Colleoni Chapel is a Renaissance adjunct to a Gothic church. Its flat fa�ade is framed by tall pilasters decorated with reliefs of saints and emperor heads, and is broken by an elaborate central doorway with a deeply recessed window over it, by two lateral windows, and by niches filled with busts. Such parts of the wall surface as are free of sculpture are encrusted with marble inlay in the form of cubes. Across the fa�ade runs an open gallery, and over this again is a row of decorative niches which support a cupola.

The design of the Colleoni Chapel is dependent both on the Portinari Chapel in Sant’Eustorgio, Milan, and, more particularly, on Antonio Filarete’s design for Bergamo Cathedral, from which Amadeo took the form of the cupola and the delight in using multicoloured stone surfaces. The chequerboard pattern of the fa�ade is antique in origin, and Amadeo included for the first time on a large scale in Lombardy numerous quotations from antique coins to provide the decoration for the tondi and lozenges, a technique he used again on a grand scale at the Certosa di Pavia.

The effect of the building is made through the richness of its decoration and the brilliance of its polychromy.

In the lowest register, beside the doorway, are two rectangular supports of which the outer faces are carved with putti.

Each of the lateral windows contains six columns, two black, two red, two white, beneath them are white marble reliefs separated by black consoles.

The picture shows two of the marble reliefs depicting stories of Hercules.

The picture shows part of a pilaster with the heads of an emperor and a saint.

The scenes from the Genesis beneath the windows are vivid and grotesque. The picture shows the Creation of Eve.

The scenes from the Genesis beneath the windows are vivid and grotesque. The picture shows the Creation of Adam.

In the six statuettes of Virtues - two above each of the lateral windows and two beside the entrance - the motifs derive from the antique.

In the six statuettes of Virtues - two above each of the lateral windows and two beside the entrance - the motifs derive from the antique.

Between 1492 and 1499 Amadeo and Antonio Mantegazza directed the decoration of the fa�ade of the Certosa di Pavia. Among those engaged to work on this project were Benedetto Briosco, Antonio della Porta and Cristoforo Solari.

The picture shows the relief depicting the Annunciation by Amadeo.

Between 1492 and 1499 Amadeo and Antonio Mantegazza directed the decoration of the fa�ade of the Certosa di Pavia. Among those engaged to work on this project were Benedetto Briosco, Antonio della Porta and Cristoforo Solari.

The picture shows the reliefs depicting the Road to Calvary by Mantegazza and the Flagellation by Amadeo.

Between 1492 and 1499 Amadeo and Antonio Mantegazza directed the decoration of the fa�ade of the Certosa di Pavia. Among those engaged to work on this project were Benedetto Briosco, Antonio della Porta and Cristoforo Solari.

The picture shows the reliefs depicting the Road to Calvary by Mantegazza and the Flagellation by Amadeo.

During the first half of the 1470s Amadeo executed the tomb of Medea Colleoni (d. 1470) for the Dominican sanctuary of Santa Maria at Basella (near Urgnano, Bergamo). Simultaneously he supervised the construction of the Colleoni Chapel in Santa Maria Maggiore at Bergamo (where the tomb of Medea Colleoni was moved in 1842) and carved the tomb of the condottiere Bartolomeo Colleoni. Amadeo’s style by this time had changed radically from that manifested in his earliest works at the Certosa di Pavia. Although in terms of its organization the Colleoni tomb can be related to earlier Lombard monumental sculpture, Amadeo made considerable use of all’antica ornament. The narrative reliefs for which he is presumed to have been responsible (the two reliefs on the ends of the sarcophagus are generally assigned to the so-called Flagellation Master) retain some similarity to the style of the Certosa lunette, but they are infinitely more sophisticated in composition and execution.

The equestrian statue of gilded wood is the work of Sisto Frei (active 1500-1515), a sculptor who became citizen in Nuremberg and was active in Italy. He was the son of Enrico Frei from Nuremberg. He had lived in Trento from 1511. His known works are the equestrian statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni in the Cappella Colleoni, Bergamo, and a Crucifix with figures in Trento Cathedral.

During the first half of the 1470s Amadeo executed the tomb of Medea Colleoni (d. 1470) for the Dominican sanctuary of Santa Maria at Basella (near Urgnano, Bergamo). Simultaneously he supervised the construction of the Colleoni Chapel in Santa Maria Maggiore at Bergamo (where the tomb of Medea Colleoni was moved in 1842) and carved the tomb of the condottiere Bartolomeo Colleoni. Amadeo’s style by this time had changed radically from that manifested in his earliest works at the Certosa di Pavia. Although in terms of its organization the Colleoni tomb can be related to earlier Lombard monumental sculpture, Amadeo made considerable use of all’antica ornament. The narrative reliefs for which he is presumed to have been responsible (the two reliefs on the ends of the sarcophagus are generally assigned to the so-called Flagellation Master) retain some similarity to the style of the Certosa lunette, but they are infinitely more sophisticated in composition and execution.

The equestrian statue of gilded wood is the work of Sisto Frei (active 1500-1515), a sculptor who became citizen in Nuremberg and was active in Italy. He was the son of Enrico Frei from Nuremberg. He had lived in Trento from 1511. His known works are the equestrian statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni in the Cappella Colleoni, Bergamo, and a Crucifix with figures in Trento Cathedral.

The detail shows the upper sarcophagus.

The detail shows the lower sarcophagus containing the coffin of the condottiere Bartolomeo Colleoni.

The detail shows two putti holding the coat of arms of the Colleoni family.

Galeazzo Maria Sforza (1444-1476) was the fifth Duke of Milan from 1466 until his assassination a decade later. He was notorious for being lustful, cruel and tyrannical.

His portrait was painted by Piero Pollaiuolo.

The picture shows an interior view of the Colleoni Chapel towards the altar. On the tribune arch are carvings with groups of children.

Two Clerics (kneeling and standing, both beautifully carved), were once joined to a Virgin and Child now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Distinctive is their angular, energized drapery, sometimes described as “cartaceous” for its resemblance to crumpled paper. They may have originally been carved for the Arc of the Persian Martyrs, a sculptural complex in the church of San Lorenzo in Cremona made to house relics (parts of saint’s bodies or objects with which they had contact).

Inside the Colleoni Chapel, on the tribune arch, are two pilasters, carved not in marble but in the more accomodating medium of Istrian stone. At the base of these pilasters are two groups of putti treading the grapes with heavy feet and spinning the disc above them like a gigantic top.

The picture shows one of the two reliefs on the pilasters.

In 1506 Benedetto Briosco was engaged by officials of the church of San Tommaso, Cremona, to execute a large reliquary to house the remains of the martyr saints Peter and Marcellino. Although work proceeded intermittently until 1513, the project was never finished; the reliefs carved by Briosco are installed in the recomposed monument in the crypt of Cremona Cathedral.

The carved bands illustrate the “Life of the two Holy Martyrs”, while the central figure of the “Risen Christ” comes from the Tomb of St Arealdo by Giovanni Antonio Amadeo.

This sculpture representing the Seated Virgin and Child comes from the tomb of Antonio Meli in the Benedictine abbey of San Lorenzo in Cremona. Meli commissioned Giovanni Antonio Piatti (1447-1480) to execute the Tomb of the Persian Martyrs in March 1479. However, both the patron and the sculptor died a few months later. Piatti’s former partner, Amadeo, took over a year later, completing the project in October 1482.

Founded by Gian Galeazzo Visconti in 1396, the Certosa was from the first conceived on a substantial scale, with one large and one smaller cloister and an imposing church. The terracotta decoration of the two cloisters was carried out during the 1460s by a group of artists of whom the most prominent was Cristoforo Mantegazza. There is a group of marble sculptures that can be associated with Cristoforo Mantegazza and his brother Antonio. The Veronese sculptor Antonio Rizzo may have been responsible for modelling certain statuettes in the large cloister, while in the small cloister the young Amadeo worked as a modeller in terracotta.

From 1482 to 1484 Amadeo worked on another project for Cremona, the tomb of St Arealdo (non-autograph fragments, Cremona Cathedral). During the same period he was paid by the Opera del Duomo authorities for a relief, the marble St Imerio Giving Alms (now mounted in a pier to the right of the presbytery) for the front of the tomb of St Imerio.

From 1482 to 1484 Amadeo worked on another project for Cremona, the tomb of St Arealdo (non-autograph fragments, Cremona Cathedral). During the same period he was paid by the Opera del Duomo authorities for a relief, the marble St Imerio Giving Alms (now mounted in a pier to the right of the presbytery) for the front of the tomb of St Imerio.

During the first half of the 1470s Amadeo executed the tomb of Medea Colleoni (d. 1470; not completed until after Bartolomeo Colleoni’s death in 1475) for the Dominican sanctuary of Santa Maria at Basella (near Urgnano, Bergamo). Simultaneously he supervised the construction of the Colleoni Chapel in Santa Maria Maggiore at Bergamo (where the tomb of Medea Colleoni was moved in 1842).

From 1482 to 1484 Amadeo worked on another project for Cremona, the tomb of St Arealdo (non-autograph fragments, Cremona Cathedral).

From 1482 to 1484 Amadeo worked on another project for Cremona, the tomb of St Arealdo (non-autograph fragments, Cremona Cathedral).

Probably in 1498 Amadeo received the commission to execute the tomb of St Lanfranco for San Lanfranco, outside Pavia. In 1508, pressed by his patron, Pietro Pallavacino da Scipione, he promised to finish it as soon as possible.

Both the (collaborative) tomb of St Lanfranco and the reliefs from the portal of the Certosa are calmer and more classical than the Cremonese reliefs. The St Lanfranco monument may be to some extent old-fashioned, but Amadeo had, nonetheless, by this date clearly been influenced by the younger generation of sculptors he had helped to train. Some of the narrative reliefs are carved in extremely high relief, a technique later carried to its practical limits by Bambaia (Agostino Busti).

In 1480 Amadeo was engaged to complete the tomb of the Persian Martyrs for Cremona Cathedral (dispersed in the 19th century: Cremona Cathedral; Milan, Castello Sforzesco; Paris, Louvre, Philadelphia, Museum of Art), originally commissioned from Giovanni Antonio Piatti (1447-1480) a year before his death by Antonio Meli, Abbot of S Lorenzo, Cremona. In view of the fragmentary condition of the work, Amadeo’s contribution is difficult to assess.

The picture shows a relief, now placed on a 19th-century pulpit in Cremona Cathedral.

In 1480 Amadeo was engaged to complete the tomb of the Persian Martyrs for Cremona Cathedral (dispersed in the 19th century: Cremona Cathedral; Milan, Castello Sforzesco; Paris, Louvre, Philadelphia, Museum of Art), originally commissioned from Giovanni Antonio Piatti (1447-1480) a year before his death by Antonio Meli, Abbot of S Lorenzo, Cremona. In view of the fragmentary condition of the work, Amadeo’s contribution is difficult to assess.

The picture shows reliefs, now placed on a 19th-century pulpit in Cremona Cathedral.

In 1480 Amadeo was engaged to complete the tomb of the Persian Martyrs for Cremona Cathedral (dispersed in the 19th century: Cremona Cathedral; Milan, Castello Sforzesco; Paris, Louvre, Philadelphia, Museum of Art), originally commissioned from Giovanni Antonio Piatti (1447-1480) a year before his death by Antonio Meli, Abbot of S Lorenzo, Cremona. In view of the fragmentary condition of the work, Amadeo’s contribution is difficult to assess.

The picture shows a relief, now placed on a 19th-century pulpit in Cremona Cathedral.

In 1480 Amadeo was engaged to complete the tomb of the Persian Martyrs for Cremona Cathedral (dispersed in the 19th century: Cremona Cathedral; Milan, Castello Sforzesco; Paris, Louvre, Philadelphia, Museum of Art), originally commissioned from Giovanni Antonio Piatti (1447-1480) a year before his death by Antonio Meli, Abbot of S Lorenzo, Cremona. In view of the fragmentary condition of the work, Amadeo’s contribution is difficult to assess.

The picture shows a view of the 19th-century pulpit in Cremona Cathedral with reliefs from the Tomb of the Persian Martyrs.

The photo shows the Cappella Colleoni beside the the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo.

Founded by Gian Galeazzo Visconti in 1396, the Certosa was from the first conceived on a substantial scale, with one large and one smaller cloister and an imposing church. The terracotta decoration of the two cloisters was carried out during the 1460s by a group of artists of whom the most prominent was Cristoforo Mantegazza. There is a group of marble sculptures that can be associated with Cristoforo Mantegazza and his brother Antonio. The Veronese sculptor Antonio Rizzo may have been responsible for modelling certain statuettes in the large cloister, while in the small cloister the young Amadeo worked as a modeller in terracotta.

The vast Certosa (Carthusian monastery) at Pavia was, aside from the Cathedral of Milan itself, the major architectural undertaking of the Visconti and Sforza dukes. The church, where the dukes planned to be buried, was begun in 1396 under Gian Galeazzo Visconti; to assert their legitimacy, the Sforza continued this grand project. Eventually the Gothic architect Giovanni Solari was made head of the project; his son Guiniforte was associated with him in 1459. From the exterior the church is a picturesque agglomeration of superimposed arcades of stone, set in the brick walls so often used in Lombard architecture. While the effect of the whole is Gothic, the details of capitals and arches conform to the new Renaissance style.

The original design for the fa�ade of the Certosa was abandoned and a splendid new fa�ade was commissioned by Ludovico il Moro beginning in 1492. Designed and constructed under the supervision of the Pavian architect and sculptor Giovanni Antonio Amadeo, it was built of marble from Carrara, near Pisa, brought over the mountains at staggering cost. The fa�ade is divided and subdivided into windows and other openings - rectangular, arched or round, and single, double, and quintuple - and enriched with sculptural reliefs (some from the 1473 fa�ade) and carved ornament that at first seem to offer only a bewildering complexity. But the classicising elements and the emphasis on the central axis flanked by symmetrical wings offer a sense of Renaissance order despite the richness of the decoration.

The vast Certosa (Carthusian monastery) at Pavia was, aside from the Cathedral of Milan itself, the major architectural undertaking of the Visconti and Sforza dukes. The church, where the dukes planned to be buried, was begun in 1396 under Gian Galeazzo Visconti; to assert their legitimacy, the Sforza continued this grand project. Eventually the Gothic architect Giovanni Solari was made head of the project; his son Guiniforte was associated with him in 1459. From the exterior the church is a picturesque agglomeration of superimposed arcades of stone, set in the brick walls so often used in Lombard architecture. While the effect of the whole is Gothic, the details of capitals and arches conform to the new Renaissance style.

The original design for the fa�ade of the Certosa was abandoned and a splendid new fa�ade was commissioned by Ludovico il Moro beginning in 1492. Designed and constructed under the supervision of the Pavian architect and sculptor Giovanni Antonio Amadeo, it was built of marble from Carrara, near Pisa, brought over the mountains at staggering cost. The fa�ade is divided and subdivided into windows and other openings - rectangular, arched or round, and single, double, and quintuple - and enriched with sculptural reliefs (some from the 1473 fa�ade) and carved ornament that at first seem to offer only a bewildering complexity. But the classicising elements and the emphasis on the central axis flanked by symmetrical wings offer a sense of Renaissance order despite the richness of the decoration.

The vast Certosa (Carthusian monastery) at Pavia was, aside from the Cathedral of Milan itself, the major architectural undertaking of the Visconti and Sforza dukes. The church, where the dukes planned to be buried, was begun in 1396 under Gian Galeazzo Visconti; to assert their legitimacy, the Sforza continued this grand project. Eventually the Gothic architect Giovanni Solari was made head of the project; his son Guiniforte was associated with him in 1459. From the exterior the church is a picturesque agglomeration of superimposed arcades of stone, set in the brick walls so often used in Lombard architecture. While the effect of the whole is Gothic, the details of capitals and arches conform to the new Renaissance style.

The original design for the fa�ade of the Certosa was abandoned and a splendid new fa�ade was commissioned by Ludovico il Moro beginning in 1492. Designed and constructed under the supervision of the Pavian architect and sculptor Giovanni Antonio Amadeo, it was built of marble from Carrara, near Pisa, brought over the mountains at staggering cost. The fa�ade is divided and subdivided into windows and other openings - rectangular, arched or round, and single, double, and quintuple - and enriched with sculptural reliefs (some from the 1473 fa�ade) and carved ornament that at first seem to offer only a bewildering complexity. But the classicising elements and the emphasis on the central axis flanked by symmetrical wings offer a sense of Renaissance order despite the richness of the decoration.