LAURANA, LUCIANO. - Architect, b. at Zara probably between 1420 and 1425, and active at Naples, Mantua, Urbino, Pesaro, Senigallia; d. at Pesaro in 1479.
The arch of Alfonso of Aragon in the Castelnuovo at Naples is attributed to him, but his documented activity is limited to the Marches, with Urbino as its epicenter, so much so that there has been talk of an "Urbinate architecture," having as its prototype the Ducal Palace of that city and as its creator L. The Ducal Palace (not completely finished) can be considered as the first modern royal residence, where architecture is not an end in itself, but is marvelously harmonized with nature; it creates a scenographic setting of intense harmony, which fits into the landscape in a perfect way. To what extent all this is the merit of the Dalmatian is a subtle matter to demonstrate. In truth his figure is still more enigmatic than that of his namesake, fellow-countryman and contemporary Francesco Laurana (v.), sculptor. His formation and his very activity are difficult to define; so that recently this uncertainty has given rise to attempts to take away from him the Ducal Palace itself, 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 the church of S. Bernardino in the vicinity of the city is assigned, rightly.
Probably the deviser of the building had to submit to two wills that seem to dominate and to have contributed to giving stylistic coherence to so vast a building, constructed over a long period of time: namely the mind of Duke Federico, who understood architecture, and the genius of Piero della Francesca, to whose taste the solemn and clear architecture of the Palace is so well linked. Since the hypothesis that the whole Urbinate building is by Francesco di Giorgio seems rash, it is fitting to refer to L. that part of the building which corresponds most to Pierfrancescan aesthetics, that is, the entire central body. There the forms are balanced, of a crystalline purity and a calm solemnity. The court of honor, which gathers and harmonizes the various members of the Palace, is certainly its purest part, inasmuch as it has not been altered by additions or disfigurements. There the author achieved an absolute harmony. It must be concluded that the architect of the Palace of Urbino (and there is no reason to hold that it is not L.), although he felt most strongly the influence of Piero, omnipresent in this work, must be numbered 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 sensibility for "enclosed space."
L.'s manners are 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, much altered. - See pl. LVIII.
Bibliography6 works
Piero Zampetti