CIVITALI. - A family of artists.
MATTEO, sculptor and architect, was born in Lucca on 5 June 1436; he died on 12 October 1501. He completed his apprenticeship in Florence, almost certainly under Bernardo and Antonio Rossellino, with the latter of whom he maintained long-standing friendly relations. In 1468, Civitali assessed the monument to Filippo Lazzeri in Pistoia, commissioned from Bernardo and executed by Antonio Rossellino, while in turn Antonio Rossellino assessed the monument to the jurist and diplomat Pietro da Noceto (d. 1467), executed in 1472 by Civitali for the cathedral of Lucca, which constitutes the first important work of the Lucchese sculptor.
Between 1473 and 1478, he executed the tabernacle of the Sacrament, now dismantled, of which two Adoring Angels remain in Lucca, while the ciborium is in London (in the Victoria and Albert Museum), and the famous bas-relief with the Faith, which probably formed part of it, is preserved in Florence (in the Bargello Museum). The monument to Domenico Bertini, apostolic abbreviator, dates to 1479; he commissioned from Civitali the small temple of the Volto Santo and the statue of St Sebastian, also in the cathedral of Lucca, executed between 1472 and 1484. Also from the same year are the altar of St Regulus (cathedral of Lucca) and the monumental tomb of SS Pellegrino and Bianco, partly altered, in the sanctuary of St Pellegrino on the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines. In 1487, the Opera della Primaziale of Pisa commissioned from him twenty-two marble altars for the cathedral, of which only a few candelabrum-like pilasters remain; the work was probably not executed, since by 1489 Civitali was already working on the tabernacle for the church of San Frediano in Lucca, later converted into a baptismal font in 1598, and in 1490 he executed the tomb of St Romano in the eponymous Lucchese church, also dismantled and altered. During this period, he also produced some architectural works and projects, such as the bridge over the Serchio at Moriano (1490, now destroyed) and plans for fortifications of the city of Lucca (1491).
For the cathedral of Lucca, he also executed a marble pulpit (1494) and two holy water stoups (1498). He then went to Genoa, where for the chapel of St John in the cathedral he carved the six statues of Adam, Eve, Habakkuk, Isaiah, Zechariah and Elizabeth (c. 1490) and a group of St George and the Dragon, commissioned by the Protectors of the Banco di San Giorgio and destroyed during the revolution of 1797. The Dead Christ in the church of Lammari (Lucca) is Civitali’s last work.
A prolific and somewhat monotonous artist, he was nonetheless one of the most original interpreters of Bernardo Rossellino’s art: his sculpture is distinguished by a clear, incisive, precise manner, though not without a certain rigidity. A sincere and delicate religious sentiment rendered some of his figures celebrated. He possessed a refined architectural sensibility and a taste for decoration, and to the Genoese statues he gave an early Renaissance grandeur. He also merits credit for introducing the art of printing to Lucca.
His son NICHOLAS, born in 1482, died in 1560, collaborated with his father, active in Pietrasanta and Lucca, and carved the tabernacle in the church of the Servites. With his son Vincenzo, he carved the holy water stoup and the marble cantories for the church of San Paolino in Lucca. He built several fine palaces in Lucca, such as that of the Cassa di Risparmio and that of the Bernardini family; others are attributed to him, such as the Palazzo Cenami and the Palazzo Orsetti.