VITTORIA, Alessandro

The Zorzi or Giorgi was a family of Venetian origin. They thrived in the Late Middle Ages, especially in the remnants of the Latin Empire in Greece, where they controlled the Margraviate of Bodonitsa and through marriage the Duchy of Athens until the Ottoman conquest.

Vittoria produced some of his greatest works during the 1580s, including a second altar for the Scuola di San Fantin in the Chapel of the Crucifix in Santi Giovanni e Paolo. Probably dating from the first half of the decade, it depicts the Crucifixion, for which Vittoria supplied bronzes of the Virgin and St John, each a little over 1 m high. Weighed down by the heavy folds of her robes but even more by her grief, the sorrowing Virgin has her hands clasped tightly together as she stares downward, providing a counterbalance to the figure of St John, who is portrayed with his arms spread wide and his neck strained upwards to gaze at Christ.

Although the altar Vittoria designed for the Scuola dei Luganegheri (the guild of sausage-makers) in San Salvador is usually dated to 1600, it more likely dates from c. 1590. In the composition and placing of the marble statues of St Sebastian and St Roch, Vittoria continued the affective relationship between architecture and sculpture begun at the altar of the Merciai in San Giuliano. The figure of St Sebastian, writhing in pain against the column behind him, is one of the most moving in all Venetian sculpture.

The principle of opposition between the architecture and sculpture, established by Cattaneo in Verona and Vittoria in Venice, culminates in two great works. One is Vittoria’s Altar of the Luganegheri in San Salvador, which is flanked by columns, two in a front and two in a rear plane. The only figure sculptures are two statues of St Sebastian and St Roch, which are set against the outer columns and posed in so free and overtly emotional a fashion that for the first time we are justified in speaking of the liberation of the sculpture from architectural restrain.

The second work is the high altar of San Giorgio Maggiore executed by Girolamo Campagna between 1591 and 1593 from a design by the painter Vassilacchi.

This masterpiece of Renaissance relief sculpture by the Venetian artist Alessandro Vittoria was commissioned in 1580 by Hans Fugger, a member of a noted Augsburg banking family, to decorate an altarpiece for the chapel of his family’s castle in Kirchheim, Swabia. Here Vittoria translated into bronze the flickering light and colourful palette of the great Venetian painters of the period; his composition is specifically adapted from altarpieces by Titian.

Working in wax (from which the finished relief was then cast in bronze), Vittoria manipulated the relief’s form and edges to catch the light. The result is a highly animated surface in which everything - figures, drapery, clouds, and sky - seems to move with excitement, heightening the drama between the sharply turned, startled Virgin and the powerful figure of Gabriel, who has suddenly descended from heaven to announce that she will be the mother of Christ. Fully sculpted in the round, the archangel’s arm points to the smallest feature in the scene: the dove, representing the Holy Ghost of the Christian Trinity.

The plasticity and depth of the relief, the dramatic movement, and the handling of detail make this one of the artist’s finest creations.

This Atlante (Atlas) forms left of a pair that supported a chimney lintel. They are in the portego of Ca’ Rezzonico.

This Atlante (Atlas) forms right of a pair that supported a chimney lintel. They are in the portego of Ca’ Rezzonico.

In 1591 the death of his second wife, Veronica Lazzarini (whom he had married in 1567), caused Vittoria to restrict his activities still further. For the marble busts of Alvise Tiepolo (1594; Venice, S Antonin), Lorenzo Cappello (c. 1595; Trent, Castello Buonconsiglio) and Domenico Duodo (1596; Venice, Ca’ d’Oro), for example, only a standard torso was used in each case.

The Duodos were a long-established Venetian patrician family. From the 11th century the family gave commanders to the armies and procurators of San Marco.

Francesco Duodo (1518-1592) was admiral, general commander of the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, then became procurator of San Marco. Domenico Duodo, Francesco’s brother, obtained the same position in 1592 after Francesco’s death.

The Grimani were an Italian family of statesmen, ecclesiastics, collectors, and patrons. They had settled in Venice by the 10th century, and their wealth was derived from trade with the eastern Mediterranean; one branch of the family settled on Crete in the early 13th century. The Venetian Grimani emerged as prominent members of the hereditary nobility in the 13th and 14th centuries and advanced their influence through holding offices in the Republic and later in the Church.

Gerolamo Grimani (c. 1500-1570) was a statesman and patron, from the San Luca branch of the family. He had a prominent political career, becoming Procurator of San Marco in 1560. He devoted considerable attention and money to the building of an imposing palazzo on the Grand Canal, on a site he acquired from the Contarini in 1556. The palazzo was designed by Michele Sanmicheli.

Giovanni Battista Ferretti (1480–1556) was a jurist. Vittoria executed the bust for his tomb in Santo Stefano in Venice. The bust is replaced by an 18th-century copy.

After 1585, the autograph production of Vittoria’s portrait busts declined sharply. While those of Pietro Zen (c. 1585; Pinacoteca Manfrediniana, Venice) and Giovanni Donà (c. 1585; Ca’ d’Oro, Venice) are by Vittoria himself, the later busts are by the workshop.

Procurator Giovanni Donà was part of a patrician family which produced 8 procurators of St Mark’s, one cardinal and a number of distinguished men of letters. His bust was executed for Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice.

The Grimani were an Italian family of statesmen, ecclesiastics, collectors, and patrons. They had settled in Venice by the 10th century, and their wealth was derived from trade with the eastern Mediterranean; one branch of the family settled on Crete in the early 13th century. The Venetian Grimani emerged as prominent members of the hereditary nobility in the 13th and 14th centuries and advanced their influence through holding offices in the Republic and later in the Church.

Marino Grimani (1532-1605) was the 89th Doge of Venice, reigning from 26 April 1595 until his death.

It was during the 1570s that Vittoria brought his portrait style close to perfection. From the busts of Contarini and Giuseppe Grimani (marble, 1573; Venice, San Giuseppe di Castello) to that of Tommaso Rangone (bronze, c. 1575; Venice, Ateneo Veneto) for San Geminiano, Venice (Vittoria’s only bronze bust), there is a steady progression in which the size and breadth of the torso are increased, the contrapposto of head and torso is more intense and complex, and the richness of chiaroscuro contrasts is deeper. The busts also increase in expressive power, for example those of Ottaviano Grimani (marble; Berlin, Staatliche Museen), Orsato Giustiniani (marble; Padua, Museo Civico) and Sebastiano Venier (marble; Venice, Palazzo Ducale).

Vittoria was a talented portraitist. He popularised the new type of portrait bust on a socle (as opposed to the type truncated at mid-torso). The signed bust in marble - shown here - portrays Ottaviano Grimani (died 1576) in contemporary dress, with a Roman echo in the cloak to ennoble the work. The separate socle may indicate a public position, perhaps balancing the bust of his father in the family chapel in San Sebastiano. The ancient type is modified by flattening and broadening to give greater substantiality.

Vittoria’s realism and descriptive powers were extraordinary. Grimani’s contemplative nobility and sensitive mouth contrast with the intensity of his eyes below heavy brows, his physical presence so real he appears to breathe or speak, as in Bernini’s portraits. The bust seems to embody Leonardo’s dictum that a portrait should reveal the motion of the sitter’s mind.

After 1585, the autograph production of Vittoria’s portrait busts declined sharply. While that of Pietro Zen is by Vittoria himself, later busts are by the workshop.

Pietro Zen (Zeno) belonged to a Venetian patrician family.

Priamo da Lezze (1469-1557) was Procurator of San Marco. His bust was placed on the family monument by Jacopo Sansovino in Santa Maria Assunta dei Gesuiti.

It was during the 1570s that Vittoria brought his portrait style close to perfection. From the busts of Contarini and Giuseppe Grimani (marble, 1573; Venice, San Giuseppe di Castello) to that of Tommaso Rangone (bronze, c. 1575; Venice, Ateneo Veneto) for San Geminiano, Venice (Vittoria’s only bronze bust), there is a steady progression in which the size and breadth of the torso are increased, the contrapposto of head and torso is more intense and complex, and the richness of chiaroscuro contrasts is deeper. The busts also increase in expressive power, for example those of Ottaviano Grimani (marble; Berlin, Staatliche Museen), Orsato Giustiniani (marble; Padua, Museo Civico) and Sebastiano Venier (marble; Venice, Palazzo Ducale).

The picture shows the bust of Sebastiano Venier (c. 1496-1578), Doge of Venice from 11 June 1577 to 3 March 1578. He is best remembered in his role as the Venetian admiral at the Battle of Lepanto. The bust is in the Armeria (Armoury) of the Palazzo Ducale.

It was during the 1570s that Vittoria brought his portrait style close to perfection. From the busts of Contarini and Giuseppe Grimani (marble, 1573; Venice, San Giuseppe di Castello) to that of Tommaso Rangone (bronze, c. 1575; Venice, Ateneo Veneto) for San Geminiano, Venice (Vittoria’s only bronze bust), there is a steady progression in which the size and breadth of the torso are increased, the contrapposto of head and torso is more intense and complex, and the richness of chiaroscuro contrasts is deeper. The busts also increase in expressive power, for example those of Ottaviano Grimani (marble; Berlin, Staatliche Museen), Orsato Giustiniani (marble; Padua, Museo Civico) and Sebastiano Venier (marble; Venice, Palazzo Ducale).

The picture shows the bust of Tommaso Rangone (1493-1577), a physician and expert on hygiene, an astrologer, philologist and patron of the arts from Ravenna.

There is an imposing door on the facade of the Frari’s Basilica with a great ogival arch on top of it. Above the arch is this beautiful statue of the Risen Christ. At the two sides of the arch two statues by Bartolomeo Bon can be found: the Virgin on the left and St Francis on the right.

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During the 1570s Vittoria supervised the decoration of the Chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary in Santi Giovanni e Paolo. The statue of David is in the choir of the chapel.

During the 1570s Vittoria supervised the decoration of the Chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary in Santi Giovanni e Paolo. The statue of the Delphic Sibyl is in the choir of the chapel.

In this terracotta bust Vittoria’s great freedom - resembling the impasto technique of late Titian paintings - is displayed in the painterly beard. The interest in texture and in capturing the outward pomp of Venice is reflected in the patterned brocade of the Doge’s garment. It is his only depiction of a doge in ducal regalia: the rich robe undulates to impart a sense of movement and its massiveness lends grandeur and power.

Designed for the Doge’s tomb, it marks a departure from the customary ducal full-length portrait. It was also a drastic change from durable marble to perishable terracotta (perhaps an acknowledgment of Vittoria’s prowess in the medium). The wisdom of old age (celebrated in the gerontocracy of Venice) is successfully captured in a poetic but powerful portrayal that ranks with Titian’s of elderly people.

The two large caryatids known as the Feminone, at the entrance to the Biblioteca Marciana, were carried out with a good deal of studio assistance; they were Vittoria’s first essay in large-scale stone sculpture and are not among his most successful works.

By 1601 Vittoria had begun the concessionary process to have a funerary monument (which he designed and partially executed himself) and a floor tomb in San Zaccaria, a highly prestigious convent, close to his home. He produced a particularly fine memorial for himself with his self-portrait. It is not only the lapidary Latin inscription that explains the program (in English: Alessandro Vittoria, who, when alive, drew living countenances from marble). It is accompanied by personifications of architecture, sculpture, and painting.

In the floor of the church, on Vittoria’s tombstone, the visitor then deciphers a Latin inscription speaking of hope and redemption.

It is rather wonderful that within San Zaccaria one finds two deeply personal works which so aptly bookend Vittoria’s glittering career in Venice: his treasured first independent commission, the marble statuette of St John the Baptist, and his last work, his own funerary monument.

The photo shows the location of the funerary monument of Alessandro Vittoria on the left wall of the church. From 1602 to 1605 Vittoria oversaw the work on his monument, which was largely carried out by his nephews Vigilio Rubini and Andrea dell’Aquila, to whom he bequeathed his drawings, models and tools.

The obverse represents Tommaso Rangone (1493-1577), a physician and expert on hygiene, an astrologer, philologist and patron of the arts from Ravenna.

Inscription around circumference: THOMAS PHILOLOGVS RAVENNAS.

The reverse depicts a female figure placing a wreath on an ox’s horns.

Inscription around circumference: VIRTVTE PARTA DEO ET LABORE.

The obverse represents Tommaso Rangone (1493-1577), a physician and expert on hygiene, an astrologer, philologist and patron of the arts from Ravenna.

Inscription around circumference: THOMAS PHILOLOGVS RAVENNAS.

The reverse depicts a female figure placing a wreath on an ox’s horns.

Inscription around circumference: VIRTVTE PARTA DEO ET LABORE.

Vittoria’s vigorous talent appears even in figures of small dimensions. This bronze of the legendary Greek athlete is a powerful male nude.

You can view other depictions of Milo of Croton in the Web Gallery of Art.

In November 1561 Vittoria was commissioned to work on the altar in the Montefeltro Chapel, San Francesco della Vigna. The statues of St Anthony Abbot (centre), St Sebastian (right) and St Roch (left) show him in full command as a sculptor of life-size figures. He was not, however, responsible for their architectural setting which is by Francesco Smeraldi.

During the early 1560s Vittoria carved three figures for the Montefeltro altar in San Francesco della Vigna: St Roch, St Anthony Abbot, and St Sebastian. The three are still much indebted to Sansovino in terms of morphology, but new influences also emerge.

Vittoria produced some of his greatest works during the 1580s, including a second altar for the Scuola di San Fantin in the Chapel of the Crucifix in Santi Giovanni e Paolo. Probably dating from the first half of the decade, it depicts the Crucifixion, for which Vittoria supplied bronzes of the Virgin and St John, each a little over 1 m high. Weighed down by the heavy folds of her robes but even more by her grief, the sorrowing Virgin has her hands clasped tightly together as she stares downward, providing a counterbalance to the figure of St John, who is portrayed with his arms spread wide and his neck strained upwards to gaze at Christ.

This palace is situated at the bend of the Canal Grande between the Accademia and the Ponte di Rialto, in a picturesque position which inspired artists such as Canaletto and Marieschi.

The architectural features of this building demonstrates the transition to the early Baroque era. Vittoria, who was a pupil of Sansovino, made use of architectural and decorative elements such as the central mullioned-widow balustrade, the mixtilinear tympanums, the sinuous frames of the windows. The magnificence of the palace was imitated in the city for a long time.

This palace is situated at the bend of the Canal Grande between the Accademia and the Ponte di Rialto, in a picturesque position which inspired artists such as Canaletto and Marieschi.

The architectural features of this building demonstrates the transition to the early Baroque era. Vittoria, who was a pupil of Sansovino, made use of architectural and decorative elements such as the central mullioned-widow balustrade, the mixtilinear tympanums, the sinuous frames of the windows. The magnificence of the palace was imitated in the city for a long time.

The Palazzo Mocenigo consists of four distinct buildings. The oldest one, Palazzo Mocenigo Casa Vecchia, is the rightmost and based on a Gothic construction, which was remodeled in the early 17th century by the architect Francesco Contin.

The two palaces in the middle were for a long time attributed to Andrea Palladio. With the central serlianas, they may be dated into the second half of the 16th century.

The leftmost, the Palazzo Mocenigo Casa Nuova was erected probably at the end of the 16th century. Its style anticipates the austere Venetian Baroque and is distinguished from its neighbours by the limestone applied on the fa�ade. The design shows strong similarities with Palazzo Balbi, situated on the other bank of the Canal Grande, certainly designed by Vittoria. The influence of Palladio can be observed in the central arch superimposed windows, in the curved tympanum windows alternating with triangular tympanum windows and in the way materials are used. The two upper floors are marked by the continuous galleries of the central arched windows. The last floor was terraced much later to create a private attic.

The picture shows the late 16th-century fa�ade.

The Palazzo Mocenigo consists of four distinct buildings. The oldest one, Palazzo Mocenigo Casa Vecchia, is the rightmost and based on a Gothic construction, which was remodeled in the early 17th century by the architect Francesco Contin.

The two palaces in the middle were for a long time attributed to Andrea Palladio. With the central serlianas, they may be dated into the second half of the 16th century.

The leftmost, the Palazzo Mocenigo Casa Nuova was erected probably at the end of the 16th century. Its style anticipates the austere Venetian Baroque and is distinguished from its neighbours by the limestone applied on the fa�ade. The design shows strong similarities with Palazzo Balbi, situated on the other bank of the Canal Grande, certainly designed by Vittoria. The influence of Palladio can be observed in the central arch superimposed windows, in the curved tympanum windows alternating with triangular tympanum windows and in the way materials are used. The two upper floors are marked by the continuous galleries of the central arched windows. The last floor was terraced much later to create a private attic.

The picture shows the late 16th-century fa�ade.

The statue is in the centre of the Montefeltro Altar.

The statue of St James is on the altarpiece in the church of San Giacomo di Rialto.

The statue of St James is on the altarpiece in the church of San Giacomo di Rialto.

This statue, Michelangelesque sculpture in its expression, anatomical realism, and strength, is the masterpiece of the sculptor. St Jerome stands on an altar in the right aisle of the church. On the sides are the statues of St Peter and St Andrew, above the altar two sibyls, all by Vittoria.

In 1576 Vittoria was at work on the altar for the Scuola di S Fantin (now the Ateneo Veneto), Venice, the major element of which was the marble St Jerome (now Venice, SS Giovanni e Paolo); in September that year he fled to Vicenza to avoid the plague but completed the work after his return to Venice (by April 1577). This later St Jerome - kneeling and exhausted from his penances, a strong contrast with the heroic stance of the saint in the Frari altar - reveals an increasing pathos in Vittoria’s work, as well as a change in his sculptural technique to a less detailed, more astringent manner.

The tormented and powerful figure of the saint originally belonged to a now dispersed architectural-sculptural complex.

Vittoria’s bronze statuettes, although an important aspect of his output, have never been thoroughly studied, with the result that basic problems of attribution and chronology persist. They include some of his most beautiful works and demonstrate how medium affects aesthetic: unlike the marble statues, which tend to command only one main viewpoint and which always reflect the shape of the original block of stone, the bronzes are more overtly three-dimensional. St John the Baptist, for instance, steps and leans forward as his shoulders twist in opposite directions from his hips and his raised right arm stretches above and behind him.

The finest bronze statutte securely attributed to Vittoria is St John the Baptist which has Michelangelesque influence but whose active pose, elasticity and fluid forms lead into the virtuoso carving and high drama of Gian Lorenzo Bernini and the Baroque.

The statuette of St John the Baptist is on a stoup in San Francesco della Vigna.

Vittoria’s earliest known sculpture, the marble statuette of St John the Baptist dates from 1543. It was originally commissioned by the monks of San Geremia, Venice, but payment was never fully made, and Vittoria bought it back in 1565. It remained in his possession until he died, and his final will of 1608 included ‘my little St John’ as a bequest to the nuns of San Zaccaria. It was transferred there shortly after his death, together with an autograph terracotta statuette of Zacharias. He asked in his will that the pair be placed on either side of the Altar of St Zacharias. It remains unclear whether the nuns ever placed either statuette on the Altar of St Zacharias, nor is it yet known at what date they were placed on the holy-water stoups (the Baptist on the right-hand stoop, Zacharias on the left-hand stoop). Sadly, today, one is not able to see the Baptist, as he is shrouded in cloth, after an act of vandalism resulted in his right arm being snapped off.

The St John occupies a key position in Vittoria’s career. The figure is conceived within a closed silhouette and steps slightly forward in the act of baptism. The skin is stretched taut over the gaunt body, so that each bone and muscle protrudes. As in later works, the drapery patterns are clear and simple; the particularized features of the face foreshadow Vittoria’s calling as a portraitist.

The exploration of a highly emotional state of being - in this case of the saint’s asceticism - remained a constant feature of Vittoria’s artistic approach, as did his preference for small-scale figures: in an age dominated by Michelangelesque gigantism, Vittoria’s most personal creations tended to be statuettes and under life-size figures.

During 1574 Vittoria paid Andrea Palladio’s son Marcantonio (c. 1538-after 1600) for work on the four great stucco Evangelists set into the inner fa�ade of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice, which was designed by Palladio himself. These statues formed the earliest component of the decoration of the church, and their spiraling, ecstatic rhythms show the increased expressiveness and poetic quality of Vittoria’s figural language at this time.

The four Evangelists flank the tomb of Doge Leonardo Donà (1536-1612) on the west wall of San Giorgio Maggiore. A close friend of Paolo Sarpi and Galileo, the scholarly Doge Leonardo Donà was the redoubtable leader of Venice at the time of the Interdict of 1602.

The picture shows St John the Evangelist.

On either side of the altar in Santa Maria dei Miracoli are bronze statues of Saint Peter and Saint Anthony Abbot by Alessandro Vittoria.

The statue of St Roch is on the left side of the altar in the church of San Salvador.

Sculptures of St Roch and St Sebastian stand to each side of the Luganegheri altar in the church of San Salvador. Both saints were venerated in Venice as protectors from the plague, and are often paired in Venetian art. Of particular interest is the figure of Saint Sebastian; the pathos communicated by the pained face and struggling figure of Sebastian recalls the great sources for such figures in the late Renaissance: the Laoco�n, the Dying Alexander, both works from late antiquity, and a more recent exemplum doloris (model of suffering), the Dying Slave, by Michelangelo.

The statue is at the left of the Montefeltro Altar.

Sculptures of Saint Roch and Saint Sebastian stand to each side of the Luganegheri altar in the church of San Salvador. Both saints were venerated in Venice as protectors from the plague, and are often paired in Venetian art. Of particular interest is the figure of Saint Sebastian; the pathos communicated by the pained face and struggling figure of Sebastian recalls the great sources for such figures in the late Renaissance: the Laoco�n, the Dying Alexander, both works from late antiquity, and a more recent exemplum doloris (model of suffering), the Dying Slave, by Michelangelo.

Vittoria carved several versions of the figure of St Sebastian. The life-size statue in the church of San Salvador (Salvatore) belongs to the late masterpieces of the artist. It is on the right side of the altar.

Vittoria carved several versions of the figure of St Sebastian. His earliest masterpiece in Venice was executed for the Montefeltro Chapel in the church of San Francesco della Vigna.

Vittoria was attracted to the sculptures of Michelangelo. The first statue in which Vittoria employed motifs from Michelangelo is the St Sebastian on the altar in San Francesco della Vigna. His model was the Dying Slave which was dispatched to France in 1544, and which he can have known only through a cast or statuette. His acquaintance with Michelangelo at this time was shallow, and this led him to modify, among many other features, the elevation of the left elbow and the position of the head. Oblivious of the weaknesses of this strange statue, Vittoria reproduced it twice as a bronze statuette.

The statue is at the right of the Montefeltro Altar.

In addition to portrait busts, stucco decorations for palaces and stone statues for churches, Vittoria produced a distinguished series of bronze statuettes of religious and mythological subjects, including thirteen known signed examples. St Sebastian is among the most successful of these statuettes.

The composition of St Sebastian depends on a life-size work in Istrian stone of 1563-64, commissioned from Vittoria by the Montefeltro family for the altar in San Francesco della Vigna, Venice. In the present bronze, Vittoria accentuated the length of the body and exaggerated its torsion. As the viewer moves around the sculpture, the smooth surfaces of the metal catch the light, emphasizing the fluid modeling of the male body and the precision of such details as locks of hair and tree bark.

Vittoria’s final will of 1608 included the marble statuette of St John the Baptist as a bequest to the nuns of San Zaccaria. It was transferred there shortly after his death, together with an autograph terracotta statuette of Zacharias. He asked in his will that the pair be placed on either side of the Altar of St Zacharias. It remains unclear whether the nuns ever placed either statuette on the Altar of St Zacharias, nor is it yet known at what date they were placed on the holy-water stoups (the Baptist on the right-hand stoop, Zacharias on the left-hand stoop). Sadly, today, one is not able to see the Baptist, as he is shrouded in cloth, after an act of vandalism resulted in his right arm being snapped off.

Vittoria produced some of his greatest works during the 1580s, including a second altar for the Scuola di San Fantin in the Chapel of the Crucifix in Santi Giovanni e Paolo. Probably dating from the first half of the decade, it depicts the Crucifixion, for which Vittoria supplied bronzes of the Virgin and St John, each a little over 1 m high. Weighed down by the heavy folds of her robes but even more by her grief, the sorrowing Virgin has her hands clasped tightly together as she stares downward, providing a counterbalance to the figure of St John, who is portrayed with his arms spread wide and his neck strained upwards to gaze at Christ.

Vittoria excelled in marble portrait busts. Inspired by Titian’s portraits, he sought to capture a sense of expressive vitality and energy in his subjects.

After 1585, the autograph production of Vittoria’s portrait busts declined sharply. The bust of Tommaso Contarini on his tomb in Madonna dell’Orto is by the workshop.

Tommaso Contarini (1488-1578) was part of a Venetian patrician family which gave eight doges to the Republic, and included among its members procurators of San Marco, generals, ambassadors, cardinals and men of letters.

The greatest Venetian sculptor of the late century, Alessandro Vittoria is documented in Vicenza in 1551 where he remained intermittently until 1553. His main project in Vicenza was the stucco decoration of rooms in Andrea Palladio’s Palazzo Thiene (now Banca Popolare), where the ceilings chart the development of his decorative idiom. The earlier ones, while rich and vigorous, merely follow and articulate the architectural layout. But in the Sala degli Dei the ceiling was conceived as one large high relief, and the cartouches, garlands and figures are not only more imaginative and graceful but powerful sculptural presences in their own right. This was probably the first programme in Italy to be carried out in strapwork, while the busts of Roman historical characters in the Sala dei Principi mark the first appearance of the portrait bust in Vittoria’s work.

Vittoria decorated the Sala dei Principi with eight stucco busts of Emperors and Romans with an unprecedented sense of movement.

As Sansovino’s closest collaborator during the 1550s, he worked on a number of projects in Venice that were headed by Sansovino, including the stuccos over the monumental staircase of the Biblioteca Marciana and those over the Scala d’Oro in the Doge’s Palace. In these sumptuous decorations the vaults over the staircases are treated as sculpture, with the result that the frescoes, which in both cases are by Battista Franco, are overwhelmed by the massive stuccos surrounding them.

As Sansovino’s closest collaborator during the 1550s, he worked on a number of projects in Venice that were headed by Sansovino, including the stuccos over the monumental staircase of the Biblioteca Marciana and those over the Scala d’Oro in the Doge’s Palace. In these sumptuous decorations the vaults over the staircases are treated as sculpture, with the result that the frescoes, which in both cases are by Battista Franco, are overwhelmed by the massive stuccos surrounding them.

As Sansovino’s closest collaborator during the 1550s, he worked on a number of projects in Venice that were headed by Sansovino, including the stuccos over the monumental staircase of the Biblioteca Marciana and those over the Scala d’Oro in the Doge’s Palace. In these sumptuous decorations the vaults over the staircases are treated as sculpture, with the result that the frescoes, which in both cases are by Battista Franco, are overwhelmed by the massive stuccos surrounding them.

As Sansovino’s closest collaborator during the 1550s, he worked on a number of projects in Venice that were headed by Sansovino, including the stuccos over the monumental staircase of the Biblioteca Marciana and those over the Scala d’Oro in the Doge’s Palace. In these sumptuous decorations the vaults over the staircases are treated as sculpture, with the result that the frescoes, which in both cases are by Battista Franco, are overwhelmed by the massive stuccos surrounding them.