ALBERT, ALBERTO. — Known as Alberto Fiorentino, sculptor, son of a Lombard stonecutter; he is mentioned in a novella by Sacchetti. In 1351 he worked under the direction of Francesco Talenti on the windows of Giotto’s bell tower in Florence; in 1357–58 he was active at the Cathedral. In 1361 he executed a relief of the Madonna and Child in the lunette above the side door of the oratory of the Compagnia del Bigallo; also his is the statue of the Madonna and Child flanked by two angels holding candelabra on the altar of the same oratory: the group was commissioned in 1359 and completed in 1364.
According to Sacchetti, A. entered the service of the Duke of Milan, Galeazzo Visconti: the year of his death is unknown. The series of reliefs depicting the Sacraments on the exterior of Giotto’s bell tower has been justly attributed to him. A direct pupil and follower of Andrea Pisano, he interprets the master’s style with plastic vigour and a rigor of form and composition almost geometric in the Sacraments reliefs, which are vividly expressive and of the highest iconographic interest; in the sculptures at the Bigallo, with their somewhat metallic dryness, influences of Orcagna can be detected.