BATTISTA (also called G. B. Cordini, and IL GOBBO). — Brother of the preceding, born in Florence in 1496, died in Rome in 1552. Very little information is available concerning his life and artistic activity, which unfolded in the shadow of his elder brother, as superintendent and surveyor of the buildings he designed and directed. Together with his cousin Aristotele (v. below), he collaborated in the construction of the dome of S. Eligio degli Orefici (1536). A manuscript translation of Vitruvius’s treatise, formerly erroneously attributed to his brother, also remains by him.
ARISTOTELE (called BASTIANO). — Son of another sister of Giuliano and Antonio il Vecchio, and of a certain Lorenzo d’Antonio, born and died in Florence (1481–1551). He was initially a painter and, according to Vasari, a pupil of Perugino; he soon abandoned this art in order to devote himself to stage design, decorations, and perspective, genres in which he was highly esteemed by his contemporaries. His architectural activity is still little known, since it is known only that—as with the other minor members of the family—it took place within the orbit of his cousin Antonio il Giovane. He is credited with the execution of the Palazzo Pandolfini in Florence, where he is said to have realized a design by Raffaello; his participation in the completion of the church of S. Eligio degli Orefici in Rome is also certain. Yet A.’s renown is due less to his artistic activity than to the very numerous drawings of ancient and contemporary buildings that he left and that are preserved in the Uffizi and in the Wicar Museum of Lille; these constitute a source of exceptional importance for the history of architecture.
FRANCESCO (F. GIAMBERTI also called IL MARGOTTA). — Son of Giuliano, born and died in Florence (1494–1576). He worked chiefly as a sculptor and medallist, demonstrating a scholarly rather than imaginative and inventive temperament in the group of the Madonna con il Bambino e s. Anna in Orsanmichele (1522), and in the relief of the Transito della Vergine in the S. Casa of Loreto (1526), where he collaborated with Tribolo. In the monument to Bishop Marzi in the S.ma Annunziata of Florence, dating from slightly later, he was influenced by Sansovino. At Montecassino he executed the sculptural portion of the monument to Pietro de’ Medici, whose design had been provided by his cousin Antonio il Giovane. His finest work is considered to be the bust of Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, in which he succeeds, through simplicity of means, in conveying a sense of constructive firmness. As a medallist, F., though lacking in elegance, is distinguished by breadth of composition. As for his architectural activity, it is known that he succeeded Baccio d’Agnolo as architect of S. Maria del Fiore (1546) and that he provided the design for the bell tower of S. Croce (1589), which was replaced in the last century by the present one. — Vedi tavv. CXII-CXIII.