Lombardo, Pietro Solari

Lombardo, Pietro Solari, called (c.1435–1515). One of the most important sculptors and architects working in Venice in the late C15 from c.1467. From 1471 he worked on embellishments for the chancel of the Church of San Giobbe, which has certain stylistic affinities with the work of Brunelleschi in Florence. Florentine too are the large funerary monuments he designed for the Church of Santi Giovanni e Paolo: conceived as architectural compositions in the Renaissance style, the tomb (1481) of Doge Pietro Mocenigo (1406–76) is his finest achievement in this genre. He designed and built Santa Maria dei Miracoli (1481–9), an aisleless nave with a barrel-vaulted timber ceiling and a raised chancel set under a cupola on pendentives, the whole exterior treated with a two-storey arrangement of engaged Orders, the uppermost carrying a blind arcade. Inside is marble panelling, and the combination of rich Byzantinesque wall-decorations and Renaissance detailing is impressive. The chancel-arch is approached from a flight of steps, and this creates the appearance of greater size. Trompe l'œil effects were also employed on the façade of Lombardo's Scuola di San Marco (from 1487), built as a confraternity hall: on the ground floor are panels treated as perspective views of architectonic spaces. The upper parts of the front were completed by Coducci. Lombardo's name is associated with various Venetian palazzi, notably the beginnings of Véndramin-Calergi (c.1500), and the Ca' Dario (c.1488), the decorative work of which is not unlike that of Santa Maria dei Miracoli. In much of his work Lombardo was assisted by his sons Antonio (c.1485–1516) and Tullio (c.1455–1532).

Bibliography

D. Howard (1980);
Luciani (1987);
McAndrew (1980);
van Vynckt (ed.) (1993)