CARNERI, Matteo

(b. 1592 Trento, d. 1673 Trentino)

Italian architect and sculptor, active in Trento, Innsbruck and Venice. His father was a painter and sculptor, and he early started an artistic career in Trento. In 1624 and again in 1625 he was commissioned to erect some temporary structures (triumphal arches) to honour the passage of the Archduke of Austria; of course, nothing remains of this activity.

Shortly after he left Trento for Innsbruck where he is documented in 1626 as the author of the main altar in the church of the Servites. In 1631 he was in Venice where in 1633 the Doge Francesco Erizzo commissioned his own memorial to be erected in the church of San Martino, a proof that Carneri was already an established artist. He was inspired by the art of Longhena and in fact he became his follower. During Doge Francesco Erizzo’s rule, the Palazzo Erizzo a San Martino underwent a reconstruction by Mattia Carneri.

He was also active in the mainland, especially in Padua: around 1645 he began the monument to Giandomenico Sala in the Basilica del Santo, while three years later he worked on the altar in the church of San Francesco Grande. Also in Padua, he designed and worked at the altar of Madonna dei Miracoli in the Cathedral.

His most important work in Padua is the renovation of the chancel of the Basilica del Santo. however, it is difficult to say to what extent he contributed to it. Although his project had been approved in 1648, too many commitments forced him to delay until 1651 when the work was entrusted to another architect. Disappointed, Carneri went back to Trento. Here in 1658 he executed the statues on the catafalque of Bishop Carlo Emanuele Madruzzo.

Funeral Monument to Doge Francesco Erizzo

Francesco Erizzo (1566-1646) was the 98th Doge of Venice, reigning from his election in 1631 until his death fifteen years later. His reign is particularly notable because the last year of his reign saw the beginning of a war with the Ottoman Empire for control of Crete that would last for 24 years and dominate the geopolitics of the Mediterranean.

The Doge died in January 1646, he was buried in the church of San Martino, where his funeral monument, commissioned from Mattia Carneri by the Doge himself in 1633, may still be seen on the wall to the right as one enters to the church.

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Paolo Veronese

Matteo Carneri was an Italian architect and sculptor, active in Bolzano, Venice, Innsbruck and Trento.

The bust forms part of the plain tomb of Veronese beside the organ in San Sebastiano in Venice, and was made, as the former inscription on the spot once made clear (PAVLI CALIARI EFFIGIES / ET. SVAE.58), two years before Veronese’s death. The terracotta model originally erected here was by the sculptor Camillo Bozzetti. In the early 17th century, Veronese’s eldest son Gabriele Caliari (d. 1631) had the whole monument renovated. The bust by Bozzetti was replaced by a copy by the sculptor Matteo Carneri, with a new inscription: PAVLO CALIARO / VERONEN. PICTORI / NATURAE AEMVLO / ARTIS MIRACVLO / SUPERSTITE FATIS / FAMA VICTVRO. It alludes to the qualities of Veronese’s art in adhering closely to nature, and declares that he conquered fate through his fame.

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