It often happened in Italy that a number of artists belonged to the same family, as in the case of the Robbias. One such family had the name of Gambarelli, but were known in art as the Rossellini. There were five sculptors of this name, all brothers. Two of them had great ability, Bernardo and Antonio. Bernardo was most distinguished as an architect, and some very celebrated edifices were built from his designs; he also executed some excellent sculptures, among which are the fine monument of Lionardo Bruni in the Church of Santa Croce, and that of the Beata Villana in Santa Maria Novella, Florence. The first is one of the best monuments in Tuscany. In the Uffizi are a bust of St. John, a charming work, and a portrait bust of Battista Sforza.
Antonio Rossellino (1427-1490), called Proconsolo, from the quarter of Florence in which he was born, was by far the best sculptor of the family. He is called a pupil of Donatello, but his work very closely resembles that of Ghiberti. Among his best works are the monument to Cardinal Portogallo, in the Church of San Miniato, near Florence; that of Mary of Aragon in Monte Oliveto at Naples; a relief of the Nativity in the same church, and a relief of the Adoring Madonna in the Uffizi Gallery. His characteristics were grace, delicacy of treatment, sweetness of expression, and all these combined with a noble dignity.
Other Tuscan sculptors of this period were Desiderio da Settignano, Mino da Fiesole (1400-1486), Andrea Ferrucci (1465-1526), and Benedetto da Majano (1442-1498), who was eminent as an architect as well as for his sculpture. His father was a stone-cutter, and two other sons in the family were artists. Benedetto began life as a worker in wooden mosaics, or intarsiatore, as it is called. He made two beautiful inlaid chests, and carried them to Hungary as a gift to King Matthias Corvinus, whose fame as a patron of art had reached his ears. But the young artist was doomed to a dreadful disappointment, for when he unpacked his chests in the presence of the king it was found that the sea-damp had spoiled them, and the mosaics had fallen apart. Benedetto then determined to work in more durable materials, and executed some sculptures in marble and terra-cotta while he remained in Hungary.
After his return to Florence, Benedetto worked as an architect, and the Strozzi Palace was built after his design. His masterpiece in sculpture was the monument to Filippo Strozzi, in the Strozzi Chapel in Santa Maria Novella, and it also merits mention among the best works of the fifteenth century. A pulpit in Santa Croce, by Benedetto, is also very fine, and his skill was shown here in his supporting the pulpit against a column and putting the staircase by which the pulpit is entered inside the column; thus it was concealed, and the building in no wise weakened, while the pulpit is far more beautiful than it would be were the staircase in sight.
Benedetto was summoned to Naples by the Duke of Calabria, who gave him commissions which occupied him for two years. Few Tuscan sculptors have produced more pleasing works than Benedetto's; though not profound they are pleasing and unaffected, and in whatever frame of mind one may be, they do not disturb, but rather soothe and charm, as they could not do if they were false in sentiment or executed in an affected manner.
Matteo Civitali di Giovanni (1435-1501) was born in Lucca, but studied art in Florence. His statue of St. Sebastian in the Cathedral of Lucca was so much admired by the painter Perugino that he copied it in his picture of the Entombment.
Civitali's chief work in sculpture was the tomb of Pietro da Noceto in the same cathedral. In Genoa, in the Chapel of St. John the Baptist, he executed six statues and five bas-reliefs. A bas-relief of Faith by Civitali in the Uffizi Gallery is a fine work, full of earnestness and deep religious feeling.
Civitali was also an accomplished architect, and did much to improve the style of building in Lucca. The beautiful temple of the Volto Santo in the cathedral was designed by him.
This sculptor may be said to have had four different styles of work. The St. Sebastian was in his earliest manner, and is simply realistic; his second manner was the best; it is pure and dignified in conception, while deep feeling pervades all; the tomb of Noceto was in this second style; his third manner was more free and less pure, while the fourth, as seen in his work at Genoa, is full of extravagant exaggeration.
Next to the sculptors of the Tuscan or Florentine school of this period were those of Venice in importance and independence of manner. This school was much influenced by that of Tuscany because of the nearness of the two cities and the constant communication between them, as well as by the fact that Tuscan sculptors were more or less employed in Venice. One of the earliest Venetian sculptors was Antonio Giovanni Bregno, called Antonio Rizzo or Riccio (about 1430-1498?). Although he was born in Verona, and there had the opportunity to study the Roman ruins which are the pride of the city, he is yet essentially an artist of Venice, since he spent most of his life there, and was even at the head of the workshop for the sculptors who worked upon the palace. One little episode in the life of this artist was an expedition to Scutari with the Venetian soldiers, who went to its defence against the Turks. Rizzo showed himself so brave in action, and was so severely wounded, that after his return to Venice the Senate gave him a pension which lasted through twenty years. Rizzo so won the confidence of the Venetians that he was appointed to important offices with large salaries, and it is sad to be forced to add that he proved to be a dishonest man, and when his accounts were examined he fled to Foligno, where he soon died. We will not speak of him as an architect; as a sculptor he is known by statues of Adam and Eve in niches opposite the Giant's Staircase in the Ducal Palace, and by sepulchral monuments in the Church of the Frari. While his works cannot be highly praised for beauty, they do show the style of the Renaissance distinctly.