Giuliano da Maiano (1432–1490) was an Italian architect,

intarsia Intarsia is a form of wood inlaying that is similar to marquetry. The practice dates from before the seventh century AD. The technique inserts sections of wood (at times with contrasting ivory or bone, or mother-of-pearl) within the solid wood ...

-worker, and sculptor, the elder brother of

Benedetto da Maiano Benedetto da Maiano (1442 – 24 May 1497) was an Italian Early Renaissance sculptor. Biography Born in the village of Maiano (now part of Fiesole), he started his career as a companion of his brother, the architect Giuliano da Maiano. When ...

, with whom he often collaborated.

Biography

He was born in the village of Maiano, near

Fiesole Fiesole () is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Florence in the Italian region of Tuscany, on a scenic height above Florence, 5 km (3 miles) northeast of that city. It has structures dating to Etruscan and Roman times. ...

, where his father was a stone-cutter who moved his family and business to

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, where, according to

Vasari Giorgio Vasari (30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance painter, architect, art historian, and biographer who is best known for his work '' Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'', considered the ide ...

, he operated a stonemason's yard, providing mouldings and carved stone detail for construction. Giuliano showed early promise, and his father hoped at first to make of him a notary, but his talent for sculpture and design won out. His first designs were for the

inlay in the fittings for the New Sacristy of the Duomo, Florence, carried out in collaboration with Benedetto in 1463-1465, where Giuliano carved the wooden bas-reliefs of putti and garlands in the frieze, and for works in

Palazzo Vecchio The ( "Old Palace") is the town hall of Florence, Italy. It overlooks the , which holds a copy of Michelangelo's ''David'' statue, and the gallery of statues in the adjacent Loggia dei Lanzi. Originally called the ''Palazzo della Signoria'', a ...

in collaboration with Benedetto, notably the ceiling in octagonal compartments and the white marble doorcase in Benedetto's ''Sala d'Audienza'' intarsia in the ''Sala dei Dugento'' (1472–1477) and in the Sala del Giglio. In 1480 he finished a tabernacle of the Madonna dell'Olivo for the Cathedral of Prato, executed in collaboration with his brothers Benedetto and Giovanni. As an architect he was virtually the house architect for the

Pazzi The Pazzi were a powerful family in the Republic of Florence. Their main trade during the fifteenth century was banking. In the aftermath of the Pazzi conspiracy in 1478, members of the family were banished from Florence and their property was ...

, rebuilding Palazzo Pazzi (1462–1472), the main seat of the family, for Jacopo de' Pazzi. For the

Strozzi Strozzi is an Italian surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Numerous members of the Strozzi family, an ancient later ennobled family from Florence ** Alessandra Macinghi Strozzi (c. 1408–1471), an Italian businesswoman and aristoc ...

, at the Palazzo dello Strozzino he added a piano nobile (c. 1456) in the manner of

Palazzo Medici-Riccardi The Palazzo Medici, also called the Palazzo Medici Riccardi after the later family that acquired and expanded it, is a 15th-century Renaissance palace in Florence, Italy. It was built for the Medici family, who dominated the politics of the Repu ...

to a ground floor that had been begun by

Michelozzo Michelozzo di Bartolomeo Michelozzi (; – 7 October 1472), known mononymously as Michelozzo, was an Italian architect and sculptor. Considered one of the great pioneers of architecture during the Renaissance, Michelozzo was a favored Medici ...

; he is also often credited with Palazzo Antinori (1465–1469). In Siena, he built Palazzo Spannocchieschi (c. 1475), in the Florentine manner of delicately rusticated facade and twinned arch-headed windows within a blind arch that had been established in Florence by Alberti's Palazzo Rucellai and Michelozzo's Palazzo Medici-Riccardi. Between the two cities, at

San Gimignano San Gimignano (; named after St. Geminianus) is a small walled medieval hill town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, north-central Italy. Known as the Town of Five Towers, San Gimignano is famous for its medieval architecture, unique in the pr ...

, Giuliano is credited with enlarging the Romanesque church of Santa Maria and building the chapel of Santa Fina, in collaboration with Benedetto; at

Arezzo Arezzo ( , ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the Province of Arezzo, province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of Above mean sea level, above sea level. As of 2 ...

, where Benedetto built the Portico of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Giuliano built the cloister of the Badia. The Badia of Fiesole influenced the design of the Brunellesque church of Santa Maria del Sasso, outside

Bibbiena Bibbiena () is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Arezzo, Tuscany (Italy), the largest town in the valley of Casentino. It is located from Florence, from Arezzo, from Siena, and from the Sanctuary of La Verna. There are approximately 11, ...

, built in 1486-87, where documents show craftsmen were presenting their bills to Giuliano for countersigning. The monks of San Marco were in charge, but the patron was a

Medici The House of Medici ( , ; ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first consolidated power in the Republic of Florence under Cosimo de' Medici and his grandson Lorenzo "the Magnificent" during the first half of the 15th ...

, for ''stemme'' for the church were being painted even as construction progressed; doubtless it was

Lorenzo de' Medici Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici (), known as Lorenzo the Magnificent (; 1 January 1449 – 9 April 1492), was an Italian statesman, the ''de facto'' ruler of the Florentine Republic, and the most powerful patron of Renaissance culture in Italy. Lore ...

himself who paid the expenses. The rock for which the church is named, site of an

apparition of the Virgin Mary A Marian apparition is a reported supernatural appearance of Mary, the mother of Jesus. While sometimes described as a type of vision, apparitions are generally regarded as external manifestations, whereas visions are more often understood as i ...

, rises through the floor at the domed crossing, where Giuliano's delicate domed

baldachin A baldachin, or baldaquin (from ), is a canopy of state typically placed over an altar or throne. It had its beginnings as a cloth canopy, but in other cases it is a sturdy, permanent Architecture, architectural feature, particularly over Alta ...

identifies and protects the sanctified spot. Pianta del Poggio Reale da Napoli - Sebastiano

His established reputation elicited commissions in Rome, Loreto ( Basilica della Casa Santa),

Faenza Faenza (, ; ; or ; ) is an Italian city and comune of 59,063 inhabitants in the province of Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna, situated southeast of Bologna. Faenza is home to a historical manufacture of majolica-ware glazed earthenware pottery, known ...

(at the

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

, 1474–1486), in

Recanati Recanati () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of Macerata, in the Italian region of Marche. Recanati was founded around 1150 AD from three pre-existing castles. In 1290 it proclaimed itself an independent republic and, in the 15th c ...

, where Lorenzo sent him to build Palazzo Venier for Cardinal Anton Giacomo Venier, and in other locations in the Marche. Above all, from 1487 he worked in Naples, where Alfonso, then duca di Calabria, employed him at the Villa di Poggio Reale (1487–1488, demolished). Giuliano also erected the marble

Porta Capuana The Porta Capuana is a Renaissance city gate in Naples, Italy, originally passing through the medieval city walls, of which two bastions remain to the sides. The gate also gives its name to the zone, which is one of the ten boroughs of Naples. Th ...

closely flanked by the cylindrical towers of the Castello; it takes the form of a

triumphal arch A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road, and usually standing alone, unconnected to other buildings. In its simplest form, a triumphal ...

with

Corinthian columns The Corinthian order (, ''Korinthiakós rythmós''; ) is the last developed and most ornate of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order, which was the earliest, ...

and an elaborate sculptural program; in the Sala Grande of the Castello he carved bas-reliefs above the doors, within and without (Vasari). He died in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

in 1490, and Alfonso himself supplied mourners for the funeral. He was also famous for the wooden room entirely of

, the "Studiolo" in the Ducal Palace in

Gubbio Gubbio () is an Italian town and ''comune'' in the far northeastern part of the Italian province of Perugia (Umbria). It is located on the lowest slope of Mt. Ingino, a small mountain of the Apennine Mountains, Apennines. History Prehistory The ol ...

.Studiolo from the Ducal Palace in Gubbio
''

The Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the third-largest museum in the world and the largest art museum in the Americas. With 5.36 million v ...

'', 1478–82. Accessed 2015-07-05.

Footnotes

Sources

* *

External links

Giorgio Vasari, ''Le Vite de' più eccelenti architetti, pittori...''
Giuliano da Maiano
''The Gubbio Studiolo and its conservation, volumes 1 & 2''
from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Giuliano da Maiano (see index) {{DEFAULTSORT:Maiano, Giuliano da 1432 births 1490 deaths People from the Metropolitan City of Florence 15th-century Italian architects 15th-century Italian sculptors Italian male sculptors Catholic sculptors Catholic decorative artists