Benedetto da Maiano (1442 – 24 May 1497) was an Italian Early Renaissance sculptor.

Biography

Born in the village of Maiano (now part of

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. ...

), he started his career as a companion of his brother, the architect Giuliano da Maiano. When he reached the age of thirty he started training under the sculptor Antonio Rossellino. There he learned to work with marble and eventually became more famous than Rossellino and one of the most important sculptors of the 15th century. During his early life, he specialised in wood-mosaic, with the Studiolo of Federico da Montefeltro and other works. King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary invited him to his court, and it is said that the destruction on the journey of some inlay work he was taking to his royal patron made him decide to seek more durable material. His early attributed works include a shrine dedicated to San Savino for the cathedral of Faenza. Although he was more prolific in sculpting religious subjects, he also carved some portraits of important Florentines; for instance, in 1474, the bust of Pietro Mellini in the

Bargello The Bargello, also known as the or ("Palace of the People"), is a former public building and police headquarters, later a prison, in Florence, Italy. Mostly built in the 13th century, since 1865 it has housed the , a national art museum. It ...

. In 1475, he worked with his brother Giuliano on the Collegiata church in

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 ...

. Benedetto's most important contribution was the carved altar in the chapel of Santa Fina. In 1480, he made the framework of the doorway of the

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 Florence. The marble

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...

in the Santa Croce in Florence is considered his masterpiece. On the pulpit are scenes from the life of St. Francis of Assisi. Also in 1480, with his brother Giuliano, he built and made the sculptures for the little oratory of the Madonna dell'Olivo, outside

Prato Prato ( ; ) is a city and municipality (''comune'') in Tuscany, Italy, and is the capital of the province of Prato. The city lies in the northeast of Tuscany, at an elevation of , at the foot of Monte Retaia (the last peak in the Calvana ch ...

. The adolescent ''St. John'' of the Bargello is ascribed to the year 1481. In 1489 Benedetto designed the Strozzi Palace in Florence which still stands (continued by Cronaca). It is believed he went to

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 there finished the works begun by Rossellino in the Sant'Anna church. He also executed various sculptures in Naples, among them an Annunciation at the church of Monte Oliveto. As an architect, he created the tomb of Filippo Strozzi, with its

roundel A roundel is a circular disc used as a symbol. The term is used in heraldry, but also commonly used to refer to a type of national insignia used on military aircraft, generally circular in shape and usually comprising concentric rings of differ ...

of Mother and Child supported by

cherub A cherub (; : cherubim; ''kərūḇ'', pl. ''kərūḇīm'') is one type of supernatural being in the Abrahamic religions. The numerous depictions of cherubim assign to them many different roles, such as protecting the entrance of the Garden of ...

s in the church of

Santa Maria Novella Santa Maria Novella is a church in Florence, Italy, situated opposite, and lending its name to, the city's main railway station. Chronologically, it is the first great basilica in Florence, and is the city's principal Dominican church. The ch ...

in Florence, and the portico of Santa Maria delle Grazie in

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 ...

. He died in Florence at the age of 55.

Notes

Sources

External links

''Leonardo da Vinci: anatomical drawings from the Royal Library, Windsor Castle''
exhibition catalog fully online as PDF from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on Benedetto da Maiano (see index)
''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 Benedetto da Maiano (see index) *Carl Brandon Strehlke, �
''Putto Carrying a Festoon'' by Benedetto da Maino (cat. 1133)
” in
The John G. Johnson Collection: A History and Selected Works
', a Philadelphia Museum of Art free digital publication {{DEFAULTSORT:Maiano, Benedetto Da 1442 births 1497 deaths People from Fiesole 15th-century Italian sculptors Italian male sculptors Italian Renaissance sculptors Catholic sculptors

Biography

See also

Notes

Sources

External links