LAURANA, LUCIANO. — Architect, born in Zara probably between 1420 and 1425, and active in Naples, Mantua, Urbino, Pesaro, and Senigallia; died in Pesaro in 1479.
The arch of Alfonso d'Aragona in Castelnuovo in Naples is attributed to him, but his documented activity is limited to the Marches, with Urbino as its centre, so much so that people have spoken of an “Urbinate architecture,” having the Ducal Palace of that city as its prototype and L. as its creator. The Ducal Palace (not entirely completed) may be regarded as the first modern royal residence, where architecture is not an end in itself but is marvellously harmonized with nature; it creates a scenographic setting of intense harmony, inscribed perfectly within the landscape. To what extent all this is the merit of the Dalmatian is a subtle question to demonstrate. In truth, his figure is even more enigmatic than that of his namesake, fellow countryman, and contemporary Francesco Laurana (v.) the sculptor. His training and his actual activity are difficult to define; consequently, this uncertainty has recently given rise to attempts to deprive him even of the Ducal Palace, entirely to the advantage of Francesco di Giorgio, the Sienese artist who was for a long time at the court of the Montefeltro and to whom, rightly, the church of S. Bernardino in the vicinity of the city is attributed.
Probably the designer of the building had to submit to two wills that seem to have dominated and to have helped impart stylistic coherence to so vast a building, constructed over such a long period: namely, the mind of Duke Federico, who understood architecture, and the genius of Piero della Francesca, whose taste is so closely reflected in the solemn and lucid architecture of the Palace. Since the hypothesis that the entire Urbinate complex was the work of Francesco di Giorgio seems rash, that part of the building which most closely corresponds to Piero’s aesthetic should be attributed to L., namely the entire central body. Here the forms are balanced, of crystalline purity and calm solemnity. The courtyard of honour, which gathers together and harmonizes the various members of the Palace, is certainly its purest part, since it has not been altered by additions or decorations. Here the author achieved absolute harmony. It must be concluded that the architect of the Palace of Urbino (and there is no reason to believe that he was not L.), while having felt Piero’s influence—omnipresent in this work—with exceptional intensity, should be counted among the purest and greatest architects of the Renaissance, as one who knew how to give his building a solemn and musical harmony, with a truly sublime sensitivity for “enclosed space.”
L.’s manner is visible, besides in various Urbinate palaces, in the “Corte Alta” of Fossombrone, in the Ducal Palaces of Gubbio, Fossombrone, and Pesaro, and in the fortress of the latter city; they are, however, considerably altered. — Vedi tav. LVIII.