BENEDETTO da MAIANO. – Architect, sculptor, and wood carver, born at Maiano in 1442, died in Florence on 24 May 1497. As an architect, he belonged to the Brunelleschian school, as is clearly shown by the portico of S. Maria delle Grazie in Arezzo (1492–94); in this work, in fact, B. exaggerated the very high pulvini at the top of the columns, modeled on those of S. Lorenzo and S. Spirito in Florence, so that the arcades span such wide spaces that the entire portico seems to achieve an absolute predominance of void over mass. The strong projections of the architectural members, capitals, pulvini (which are composed of fragments of entablature), and cornice give great pictorial quality and movement to the airy structure, which is fully integrated with the surrounding nature.
The Palazzo Strozzi is also attributed to B., though some, not without reason, assign it to Giuliano da Sangallo (who certainly made a model), without excluding the direct involvement of the patron himself.
As a sculptor, B. drew inspiration from Donatello. His most famous sculpture is the pulpit adorned with stories of St Francis in S. Croce, Florence (1481).
In 1489, B. executed in Florence the altar with the Annunciation for the church of Monte Oliveto in Naples, in which he employed pictorial perspective to depict the central scene, opening a deep portico behind the figures of the Virgin and the Angel, a motif developed by Desiderio da Settignano in the tabernacle of the Sacrament in the Florentine church of S. Lorenzo.
We may also recall the naturalistic bust of Pietro Mellini (Florence, Museo Nazionale); the ark of St Savinus in the cathedral of Faenza; the tomb of Blessed Marcolino in the Galleria comunale of Forlì; the ciborium of S. Domenico in Siena; the urn with the altar of St Fina in S. Gimignano; the door of the Sala delle Udienze in Palazzo Vecchio; the Madonna and St Sebastian in the Oratory of the Misericordia in Florence; the bust of Filippo Strozzi (Paris, Musée du Louvre) and the monument to the same in S. Maria Novella.
B. was also a renowned wood carver (Palazzo Vecchio, ceiling of the Salone degli Otto and of the Sala di Udienza dei Priori). – See Plate LXXIX.