Benedetto da Maiano

Benedetto da Maiano trained with his brothers as a woodworker in his father’s workshop, excelling in inlay work, according to Vasari (1568). Enrolling in the Arte dei Maestri di Pietra e Legname (the stone and woodworkers’ guild) in 1473, his first sculptures consisted of the Altar of Santa Fina in the Collegiata of San Gimignano and a ciborium for the church of San Domenico in Siena. The Tomb of San Savino in Faenza Cathedral has now been reassigned to Antonio Rossellino, contradicting a long tradition dating back to Vasari which had attributed it to Benedetto da Maiano, although Benedetto is more likely to have been involved in carving only certain parts of it. Benedetto carved numerous portrait busts of his contemporaries which are characterised by sharp psychological probing and which subtly yet effectively capture the sitter’s invariably virtuous and moderate mood. He made frequent use of terracotta models to design and develop his works, which he then translated into various materials – marble being his material of choice – in a soft and meticulous style. His more important works include reliefs with Stories from the Life of St. Francis in the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence. Finely carved and rich in decorative detail, they echo coeval painting by such masters as Ghirlandaio, Filippo Lippi and even Luca Signorelli. He carved the door of the Sala dei Gigli in the Palazzo dei Priori (now Palazzo Vecchio) in Florence in 1481, before going on to work in the Basilica of the Santa Casa in Loreto and in Naples, where he was later joined by his brother Giuliano da Maiano. While in Naples, he carved a number of statues for the unfinished Porta Capuana project and for the monumental decoration of the Correale and Piccolomini Chapels in the church of Sant’Anna dei Lombardi. On his return to Tuscany, he also turned his hand to architecture, his work in that field including the exterior portico surrounding the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Arezzo (c. 1490).