Buon, Family

BUON, FAMILY. - GIOVANNI, architect and sculptor, is first recorded in Venice in 1382; d. there in 1442. He worked together with his son Bartolomeo on the church of S. Maria dell'Orto, on the abbey of the Misericordia, on the church of S. Polo, and on the Scuola grande di S. Marco (1437), where he supplied the Gothic frame of the portal (the lunette is attributed to Bartolomeo). In 1438 he began the work on the Porta della Carta. His activity unfolded within the Gothic tradition, to which his son BARTOLOMEO (d. in Venice in 1464) is still bound, though he renews its meaning through a broad, restful power of modelling, of Tuscan inspiration (cf. the Carità, Scuola grande di S. Marco). B. is the major representative of Venetian sculpture of the first half of the century, and the greatest plastic production of the period is connected with his workshop. The quality of his art is documented by the lunette of the portal of the Scuola della Misericordia (1441-45) more than by the Madonna del Municipio, in Udine (1448); and the direct intervention of a Tuscan does not seem necessary to explain the delicate elegance of the lunette in S. Maria della Salute (formerly in S. Maria della Carità, 1443-49). Among the most notable works are the wellhead at the Ca' d'Oro and the plastic decoration (the attribution of the Virtù is disputed) of the Porta della Carta.

Maria Vittoria Brugnoli