Giacomo Andrea da Ferrara (also known as Iacomo Andrea; died May 12, 1500) was an architect from

Ferrara Ferrara (; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, capital of the province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main ...

and the author on a commentary on

Vitruvius Vitruvius ( ; ; –70 BC – after ) was a Roman architect and engineer during the 1st century BC, known for his multi-volume work titled . As the only treatise on architecture to survive from antiquity, it has been regarded since the Renaissan ...

. Very little is known about him; his name did not appear on any buildings in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

Luca Pacioli Luca Bartolomeo de Pacioli, O.F.M. (sometimes ''Paccioli'' or ''Paciolo''; 1447 – 19 June 1517) was an Italian mathematician, Franciscan friar, collaborator with Leonardo da Vinci, and an early contributor to the field now known as account ...

wrote that Giacomo Andrea was almost like a brother to

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...

. Giacomo Andrea, active by the 1480s, drew a prototypical ''

Vitruvian Man The ''Vitruvian Man'' (; ) is a drawing by the Italian Renaissance artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci, dated to . Inspired by the writings of the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius, the drawing depicts a nude man in two superimposed positions ...

'' which may have served as the basis for Leonardo's drawing, or have been conceived alongside it as a collaborative effort. Giacomo Andrea was very loyal to the

Sforza The House of Sforza () was a ruling family of Renaissance Italy, based in Milan. Sforza rule began with the family's acquisition of the Duchy of Milan following the extinction of the Visconti of Milan, Visconti family in the mid-15th century and ...

family. After the occupation of

by the French, he is said to have plotted against the French. He was put on trial and sentenced to death. Archbishop Pallavicini attempted to plead for his innocence. Giacomo Andrea was publicly

beheaded Decapitation is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and all vertebrate animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood by way of severing through the jugular vein and common c ...

on May 12, 1500. His body was quartered and placed on four different gates of the city. Leonardo da Vinci did not plot against the French, but instead went into their service.

References

15th-century Italian architects 1500 deaths Year of birth unknown Architects from Ferrara {{Italy-architect-stub