CAMPIONESI, MAESTRI. – Sculptors, architects, and stonecutters from the area of Lake Lugano, active in northern Italy, already known in the 12th century as a guild of craftsmen, began in the 13th century to sign their works, distinguishing the individual personalities.
Emerging from the Romanesque tradition in its late period, with a less tormented and more rounded modelling, they developed an original style of sculpture distinguished by decorative balance, vivid anecdotal detail, restraint, and essentiality of expression. As centres of production at the beginning of the 13th century, they turned toward Modena and Verona, Bergamo and Milan.
The attribution of certain anonymous works remains disputed, such as the Arca di s. Agostino in Pavia and the Altare dei Re Magi in S. Eustorgio in Milan: various positions have been advanced, among which the Veronese are the most notable; recent criticism assigns little value to the Tuscan contribution of Giovanni di Balduccio da Pisa, active in Milan in the 14th century.
In alphabetical order, the best-known personalities of the Campionese school are:
ANSELMO (documents from 1244). He worked in Modena Cathedral.
BONINO (1397). Perhaps the most important master of this school. One of his earliest works is the Sarcofago di Lambertino Balduino in the old cathedral of Brescia; this was followed by the Arca di Folchino degli Schizzi in Cremona Cathedral (1357); the Monumento di Stefano e Valentino Visconti in S. Eustorgio in Milan; the Arca di Bernabò Visconti in the Sforza Castle of Milan (between 1363 and 1385); and the Arca di Cansignorio della Scala in Verona (1370–75), a more complex and singular work because of its interplay of light and shadow and certain painterly accents that do not diminish its sculptural strength.
ENRICO. He sculpted the pulpit of Modena Cathedral (1322) and worked on the bell tower.