ANGOLO DEL MORO, Giulio dell' - b. 1555 Verona, d. 1616 Venezia - WGA

ANGOLO DEL MORO, Giulio dell'

(b. 1555 Verona, d. 1616 Venezia)

Italian sculptor and painter, part of a family of artists, son of Battista Angolo del Moro (c. 1515-c. 1573). Battista married the daughter of Francesco Torbido (called il Moro) and added her family nickname to his surname. Battista practised as a decorative fresco painter in the Veneto in the second half of the 16th century and was the first of an important group of etchers active in and around Verona and Venice at that time. His Mannerist style was perpetuated by his sons Marco Angolo del Moro and Giulio Angolo del Moro. Marco also followed in his father’s footsteps as an etcher, whereas Giulio was active also as a sculptor.

Giulio is recorded as a member of the Venetian painters’ guild first in 1584 and for the last time in 1615. A connection with Alessandro Vittoria’s workshop in the 1570s seems likely. The work necessitated by the fires in the Doge’s Palace in that decade served as Giulio’s entry to State patronage. Between 1584 and 1589 he carved the figures of Diligence, Secrecy and Fidelity in the Sala delle Quattro Porte and in 1585-90 painted the Capture of Caffà in the Sala del Scrutinio. His most prominent picture is Doge Ziani Receiving Gifts from Pope Alexander III (c. 1610) in the Sala del Maggior Consiglio, but perhaps his best painting is the awkward but animated Ecce homo in San Giacomo dell’Orio, Venice.

He has been credited with the sculpture on the Priuli Tomb in San Salvador, but in fact these figures seem to be by a certain Alvise Moro. The tomb of Andrea Dolfin and his Wife (completed c. 1605) in the same church contains his most significant sculpture, especially the figures of St Andrew and the Risen Christ. His last projects took place c. 1605-15 at San Giorgio Maggiore: the façade sculptures of St George and St Stephen and the busts of the doges Sebastiano Ziani and Tribuno Memmo, as well as the tomb of the doge Marcantonio Memmo on the inside façade.

Although some of his work, for example the bust of Giovanni da Lezze (Gesuiti, Venice), shows Giulio at his most inspired, his surviving sculptures and paintings are largely dry and derivative.

Bust of Andrea da Lezze

Andrea da Lezze (1527-1604) was a procurator of San Marco). His bust was placed on the family monument by Jacopo Sansovino in Santa Maria Assunta dei Gesuiti.

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Bust of Giovanni da Lezze

Giovanni da Lezze (1554-1625), the son of Andrea da Lezze, was a procurator of San Marco). His bust was placed on the family monument by Jacopo Sansovino in Santa Maria Assunta dei Gesuiti.

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Crest of Doge Marcantonio Memmo

The art of Alessandro Vittoria, the most original interpreter of Venetian Mannerism in the field of sculpture, was to influence sculptors of the younger generation greatly. The most important part of Vittoria’s visual language was adopted by his contemporaries, those same sculptors who, in the Venice of the late Cinquecento, had already demonstrated their independence, in particular Girolamo Campagna and Giulio dell’ Angolo del Moro, both sculptors and architects, the latter a painter too.

Giulio also worked in stucco decoration, carrying on another sixteenth-century tradition which, thanks to his gifts as sculptor, gives elegant results in two allegories that flank the coat of arms of Doge Marcantonio Memmo above the door of the Sala degli Scudieri in the Palazzo Ducale.

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Ecce Homo

This awkward but animated painting of Ecce Homo is perhaps the best painting of the artist. It is in the Chapel of Holy Sacrament in the church of San Giacomo dall’Orio. On the bottom left, there is a portrait of Guardian Grando wrapped in superb seventeenth-century garb, who was the Holy Sacrament School’s highest authority.

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The Risen Christ

This statue is in the centre of the tomb of Andrea Dolfin and his wife Benedetta Pisani Dolfin.

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Tomb of Andrea Dolfin and his Wife

The tomb of Andrea Dolfin and his wife Benedetta Pisani Dolfin contains the artist’s most significant sculpture, especially the figures of St Andrew and the Risen Christ.

The Dolfin are a Venetian patrician family, already included in the patriciate and considered one of the most conspicuous in the history of the Serenissima.

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Tomb of Doge Marcantonio Memmo

This tomb, one of the last projects of the sculptor, is on the counter-fa�ade of San Giorgio Maggiore.

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