DALLE MASEGNE, JACOBELLO and PIETRO-PAOLO. — Venetian sculptors and architects, brothers, also known as “da Venezia.” Of Pietropaolo, private records show that he made his will in 1403; of Jacobello, that after his return to Bologna (1408) he disappears from view in 1409. They worked in Venice, Mantua, Milan, Pavia and Bologna. Despite their constant collaboration, clear stylistic differences appear in their individual works.
Works by Pietropaolo: sepulchral monument of Giovanni da Legnano in Bologna (1386); sepulchral monument of Margherita Malatesta in Mantua (1399); the large window in the south façade of the Ducal Palace and the Doge Venier’s sepulchral monument in SS. Giovanni e Paolo (1400).
Works by Jacobello: the iconostasis of St Mark’s Basilica in Venice (1392–94); design for the façade of the cathedral of Mantua (1396).
Joint undertakings of both: the commission for the altar of St Francis in Bologna, executed by Pietropaolo alone (1388); construction of Milan cathedral (1399).
Though starting from a common training within the Venetian sculptural tradition, which combined Eastern elements with Northern and Tuscan influences (Nino Pisano),
Pietropaolo’s works stand out for a less rigid execution, a delicate transition of planes, and an ample study of elegantly rhythmical drapery. Jacobello’s sculpture, by contrast, is marked by sharper and deeper stylization, more energetic and sometimes angular movement, and a restrained force that avoids any limp decorative quality.
The incisive and varied sculpture of the Dalle Masegne brothers played a significant part in the development of Emilian plastic art in the late fourteenth century.
Paolo, son of Jacobello, was also a sculptor; to him is attributed the sepulchral monument of Jacopo Cavalli in the Church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo in Venice.