Giuliano da Maiano
woodworker (intarsiatore), architect and engineer; b. 1432; d. October 17, 1490.
A brother of Benedetto da Maiano. In ascribing the Palazzo di S. Marco and other important buildings in Rome at this period to Giuliano da Maiano, Vasari probably confuses him with Giuliano da San Gallo. His name does not appear in the Roman records. In 1468 he designed the Capella di S. Fina at Saint Gemignano near Florence. In 1472 he designed the Palazzo del Capitano at Sarzana near Spezia, Italy. May 26, 1474, he began the cathedral of Faenza, and at about this time built the palace of the Cardinal Concha at Recanati. April 1, 1477, he was elected capomaestro of the cathedral of Florence. Between 1475 and 1480, with Francione, he made the wooden doors of the Sala d'Udienza at the Palazzo della Signoria, Florence. He also assisted Baccio Pontelli at the ducal palace of Urbino. In July, 1487, Giuliano was paid through the bank of the Gondi in Florence two hundred ducats for the models of the palaces of Poggio Reale and of the Duchesca near Naples. February 17, 1488, he entered the service of Alfouzo, Duke of Calabria, afterward King Alfonzo II, and constructed for him these two palaces. Of the Poggio Reale, Giuliano's most important work, nothing remains except a drawing by Serlio.
Luciano da Laurana
architect; d. 1483.
Luciano came from Laurana or Lovrana, a little city in Istria, then Venetian territory. Frederico III, Count of Montefeltro and first Duke of Urbino, issued letters patent (now in the Vatican Library) dated June 10, 1468, creating Luciano chief architect and engineer of the palace which he had begun to erect at Urbino. According to Baldi, Luciano had worked on the Poggio Reale, near Naples, and was recommended to Montefeltro by the Neapolitan court. Assodated with him were Baccio Pontelli, and probably Francesco di Giorgio Martini. The principal sculptor employed was Barocci of Milan. (See Bramante.) The palace is also attributed to Luciano.
Jehan Ranconval or Ranguevaux
architect.
A son or pupil of Henri Ranconval, maître des œuvres of the city of Metz (Lothringen, Germany). In 1468 he was architect of the cathedral, and about 1473 succeeded his father as maître des œuvres of the city of Metz. In 1477 he designed the tower of La Muette at the cathedral. In 1481 he commenced the church of S. Symphorien at Metz.
Verrocchio (Andrea di Michele de Coine)
sculptor, painter, and goldsmith; b. 1435; d. 1488.
Andrea was apprenticed to a goldsmith, Verrocchio, by whose name he was known. Of his work as goldsmith nothing remains except a bas-relief in the silver retable at the baptistery in Florence (1478-1480). In 1468 he assisted Luca della Robbia in casting the bronze doors of the sacristy of the cathedral of Florence. About 1471-1472 he made the monument of Piero and Giovanni de' Medici in the church of San Lorenzo at Florence. He visited Rome during the pontificate of Sixtus IV (Pope 1471-1484), and made there the tomb of Francesca Tornabuoni, some bas-reliefs from which are now in the Museo Nazionale (Florence). The charming fountain (boy with dolphin), now in the court of the Palazzo Vecchio (Florence), was intended for the Medici villa at Careggi. Verrocchio's greatest work is the equestrian statue of the general, Bartolomeo Colleone, at Venice (begun 1479). The work was left incomplete at the death of Verrocchio. It passed through the hands of Lorenzo di Credi to Alessandro Leopardi, who cast the statue in 1496 and signed his name on the saddle girth.
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