FANCELLI, Luca

(b. ~1430 Settignano, d. ~1494 Mantova)

Italian architect and sculptor. He trained as a stonecutter but was involved more with architecture than sculpture. Several contradictory references by Vasari relate to Fancelli’s early career and attribute to him the construction of the Palazzo Pitti, the tribune of SS Annunziata and other Florentine buildings designed by Brunelleschi and Alberti. Vasari’s proposal, however, lacks documentary confirmation, since Fancelli moved c. 1450 to Mantua, where he entered the service of Ludovico II Gonzaga, 2nd Marquis of Mantua. While there he supervised the construction of Alberti’s churches of S Sebastiano (from 1460) and S Andrea (from 1472); his personal contribution to these buildings, especially S Andrea, which was begun only shortly before Alberti’s death, should not be underestimated.

Façade

The Palazzo Pitti in Florence, commenced for Luca Pitti, a wealthy merchant, was attributed to Brunelleschi until the discovery that construction did not begin until c. 1457. The powerful rustication and the grandeur of the superimposed arcades, obviously based on the ancient aqueducts would seem to be alien to the taste of Brunelleschi, but it has been suggested that this dramatic new palace style might somehow be related to Brunelleschi’s design for Palazzo Medici that was rejected by Cosimo de’ Medici. Others relate the style to the ideas of Alberti; one candidate might be the Florentine architect Luca Fancelli, who was deeply imbued with Albertian ideas, was in Florence at the time, and built much of Sant’Andrea in Mantua after Alberti’s designs.

The Quattrocento structure was originally limited to the central seven bays. It was extended during the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and the Boboli Gardens were developed. It was the official residence of the Medici grand dukes; in the nineteenth century it served briefly as the residence of the Italian monarchy.

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Fireplace with Portraits of Ludovico II and Federico Gonzaga

The Tuscan craftsman Luca Fancelli went to Mantua in the 1450s, and was in charge of numerous building sites for more than thirty years and finally earned the important title of ingegnere (engineer).

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