CARNELIVARI, MATTEO. - Architect, b. at Noto, he worked in Palermo at the end of the 15th century and in the early years of the 16th. He is the representative artist of the last Gothic period of Sicilian architecture, distinguished by a revival of local 14th-century forms, combined with the direct importation of Catalan ones.

His certain works are the palaces of Francesco Abbatellis and of Ranieri Ajutamicristo; in them the exterior is simple and massive, adorned only with a few minute elements, while the most notable parts are the courtyards with two orders of loggias, with arcades on columns and depressed arches, light and airy. Also attributed to him is S. Maria della Catena, the finest building of this time, which in its organic type is inspired by traditional Sicilian schemes, but in the highly original and very typical forms of the external portico and of the naves fully realizes the tendencies of an accentuated linearism, which almost suppresses the thickness of the walls, concentrates the weights on slender columns and vigorously marks the arcades with broad, detailed and incised moldings.

C. may be considered the initiator of a Palermo school of master builders and carvers, which for some decades continued to apply his forms.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: Venturi, VIII, II, p. 108; L. Biagi, Palermo, Bergamo 1920, pp. 87-95; E. Calandra, Breve storia dell'architettura in Sicilia, Bari 1938, pp. 68-70.

Renato Bonelli

@incollection{ec3_carnelivari_matteo, author = {Bonelli, Renato}, title = {Carnelivari, matteo}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {III}, pages = {902--903}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1949}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/carnelivari-matteo} }

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Carnelivari, Matteo

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