- Andrea Sansovino
Andrea dal Monte Sansovino or Andrea Contucci del Monte San Savino (c. 1467 – 1529) was an Italian sculptor active during the
High Renaissance . His pupils includeJacopo Sansovino (no relation).Biography
He was the son of Niccolò di Domenico di Muccio, and was born at
Monte San Savino nearArezzo , hence his name, which is usually softened to Sansovino.He was a pupil of
Antonio Pollaiuolo , and at first worked in the style of 15th-centuryFlorence . His early works are theterra cotta altarpiece in Santa Chiara at Monte San Savino, and the marble reliefs of the "Annunciation", the "Coronation of the Virgin", a "Pietà", the "Last Supper", and various statuettes in the Corbinelli chapel of Santo Spirito at Florence, all executed between the years 1488 and 1491. From 1493 to 1500 Andrea worked inPortugal for the king, and some pieces of sculpture by him still exist in the monastic church ofCoimbra . These early reliefs show strongly the influence ofDonatello . His first known works after his return to Rome are a "Madonna" and a "Baptist" inGenoa Cathedral . The beginning of a more pagan style is shown in the statues of "St. John Baptizing Christ" over the east door of theBattistero di San Giovanni in Florence (1505). This group was, however, finished by the weaker hand ofVincenzo Danti . In this period he executed the marble font atVolterra , with good reliefs of the "Four Virtues" and the "Baptism of Christ".In 1504 Sansovino was invited to Rome by
Pope Julius II to make the monument of Cardinal Manzi inSanta Maria in Aracoeli (influenced by the Lombard style ofAndrea Bregno ) and those of CardinalsAscanio Maria Sforza andGirolamo della Rovere for the retro-choir ofSanta Maria del Popolo . The architectural parts of these monuments and their sculptured foliage are extremely graceful and executed with the most minute delicacy, but the recumbent effigies show the beginning of a serious decline in taste. These tombs became models which for many years were copied by most later sculptors with increasing exaggerations of their defects.In 1512, while still in
Rome , Sansovino executed a very beautiful group of the "Madonna and Child with St. Anne", now over one of the side altars in the church of Sant'Agostino. From 1513 to 1528 he was atLoreto , where he cased the outside of the Santa Casa in white marble, covered with reliefs and statuettes in niches between engaged columns; a small part of this sculpture was the work of Andrea, but the greater part was executed byRaffaello da Montelupo ,Tribolo and others of his assistants and pupils. Though the general effect is rich and magnificent, the individual pieces of sculpture are both dull and feeble. The earlier reliefs, those by Sansovino himself, are the best.References
*1911|article=Andrea Contucci del Monte Sansovino|url=http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Andrea_Contucci_del_Monte_Sansovino
*Giorgio Vasari includes a biography of Sansovino in his "Lives".
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