JULIANO DA MAIANO. - Architect and carver, b. at Maiano (Fiesole), in 1432, d. at Naples on 17 Oct. 1490. He belongs to a family of artists: his father, Leonardo d'Antonio, was a stonecutter, and his brothers Benedetto (v.) and Giovanni were sculptors.
In his youth he took up the art of the carver, and his most important work in this field are the beautiful cupboards of the new sacristy of S. Maria del Fiore (1463). But he had already begun the activity of architect as well, competing in the design for the oratory of the Madonna della Tavola in the cathedral of Orvieto (not carried out), and bringing to completion the Palazzo Strozzino in Florence, begun by Michelozzo. His subsequent activity took place in large part far from Florence, almost always with his brothers as companions: between 1466 and 1468 at S. Gimignano he provided the design for the transformation of the Collegiata, and together with Benedetto he completed the chapel of S. Fina; in 1473 he was at Siena (Palazzo Spannocchi); in 1474 at Faenza he began the construction of the Cathedral (brought to completion by Lapo di Pagno Portigiani) inspired by the Brunelleschian model of S. Lorenzo; in 1481-85, summoned by Girolamo Basso della Rovere, he directed the building of the basilica of Loreto. His ties with Florence, where in 1477 he was capomaestro of the Opera del Duomo, loosened when, in 1485, summoned by Ferdinand of Aragon, he went to Naples, where he remained until his death. Once the Villa of Poggio Reale was destroyed, his only surviving work in Naples is the grandiose Porta Capuana. G. was the greatest disseminator of Brunelleschian forms in the Marches, in Emilia and in Campania. It is uncertain whether he also worked in Rome, where Vasari attributes to him works of exceptional importance, such as the construction of part of the Palazzo Venezia and the Loggia della benedizione in S. Pietro.
Bibliography3 works
Mario Zocca