Antonio Federighi (circa 1420 – 1490) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

architect and sculptor of the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

period. He was born and active mainly in

Siena Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...

, Italy.

He began as a sculptor for the

Duomo of Siena Siena Cathedral () is a medieval church in Siena, Italy, dedicated from its earliest days as a Roman Catholic Marian church, and now dedicated to the Assumption of Mary. Since the early 13th-century the Siena Cathedral has been an important pa ...

, and worked there alongside

Jacopo della Quercia Jacopo della Quercia (, ; 20 October 1438), also known as Jacopo di Pietro d'Agnolo di Guarnieri, was an Italian sculptor of the Early Renaissance, a contemporary of Brunelleschi, Ghiberti and Donatello. Biography Jacopo della Quercia takes hi ...

. In 1448, he rose to Capomaestro dell'Opera del Duomo, working with Pietro di Tommaso del Minella. Among his work at the Cathedral of Siena is the marble intarsio design of the

Erythraean Sibyl The Erythraean Sibyl was the prophetess of classical antiquity presiding over the Apollonian oracle at Erythrae, a town in Ionia opposite Chios, which was built by Neleus, the son of Codrus. The word ''Sibyl'' comes (via Latin) from the anci ...

(1482). He was also Capomaestro for the

Cathedral of Orvieto Orvieto Cathedral () is a large 14th-century Roman Catholic cathedral dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and situated in the town of Orvieto in Umbria, central Italy. Since 1986, the cathedral in Orvieto has been the episcopal seat ...

. He designed the Palazzo delle Papesse and the nearby Loggia del Papa (1462–63). He may have contributed to the design of Santa Maria delle Nevi. Federighi is considered as the architect who reintroduced the heavily foliated carving and the antique pagan imagery into the vocabulary of Sienese

Quattrocento The cultural and artistic events of Italy during the period 1400 to 1499 are collectively referred to as the Quattrocento (, , ) from the Italian word for the number 400, in turn from , which is Italian for the year 1400. The Quattrocento encom ...

sculpture. During his work as the Capomaestro of the Opera, he has designed multiple holy water basins (Acquasantieras) that, for a long time, were mistaken for pagan alters. The Acquasantiera he designed is considered to have been commissioned to celebrate a marriage between the powerful clans or the birth of a mutual heir.

References

15th-century Italian architects Architects from Siena Italian Renaissance architects 15th-century Italian sculptors Italian male sculptors Year of birth unknown 1490 deaths Year of birth uncertain {{Italy-architect-stub