Jacopo Sansovino (Jacopo Tatti) Biography

Italian sculptor and architect born in Florence. He trained as a sculptor under Andrea Sansovino , whose name he adopted. Around 1506 he went to Rome where he joined Bramante's circle, also studying the Antique. Returning to Florence c. 1510 , his works during that period include the joyful Bacchus (Florence, Bargello). He also practised as an architect, designing palaces both in Florence and Rome, usually for Florentine patrons. After the Sack of Rome ( 1527 ) he travelled to Venice, where he spent the remainder of his career. In 1529 he was appointed chief architect to the Procurators of S. Mark's , and his architectural contributions to the replanning of S. Mark's include the Library and Public Mint ( c. 1537 ), whose regular arcading reflects the Doge's palace opposite. The Loggetta at the base of the campanile incorporates reliefs and figural sculpture in a completely novel way for Venice, and its niche figures were to have an important impact on the development of Venetian small-scale bronze sculpture. Sansovino also designed the Palazzo Corner at S. Maurizio ( c. 1545 ), the first truly classical palace in Venice. Concurrently with his architectural projects, he executed bronze reliefs of the Miracle of the Maiden Carilla for S. Anthony's shrine in the Santo in Padua ( 1536 – 63 ), and designed a series of reliefs for the tribunes in S. Mark's ( 1537 – 41 ). These were the first truly Mannerist relief compositions in Venice, while the bronze sacristy doors for S. Mark's incorporate motifs from Ghiberti's Florence Baptistery doors. His colossal Neptune and Mars on the Doge's palace staircase ( 1554 – 66 ) lack the grace of his small-scale sculpture. For Tommaso Rangone , in addition to his tomb, he designed a tympanum relief of Rangone seated between the terrestrial and celestial globes, both for S. Giuliano. His tomb designs, such as the one for Doge Francesco Venier ( 1555 – 61 ; Venice, S. Salvatore), combine the Venetian idiom of the wall tomb, with influences from Roman early 16th-century tomb design. Together with Pietro Aretino and Titian , he dominated artistic life in Venice during the mid-16th century and formed an important school of followers, including Vittoria .

Antonia Boström