Court of the Ducal Palace at Venice. Designed by Magister Antonio Rizo or Riccio
It is difficult to say who is the Antonio Bregno that is accredited with Rizo's works. There was a Lorenzo Bregno, a sculptor to whom Sansovino attributes the statue of the General Dionisio Naldo of Brisighella (died 1510), which is placed above the door of San Giovanni e Paolo. There was also Paolo Bregno, father of Lorenzo, but the name of Antonio never appears in the books of the Administration, nor in any archives as far as Sig. Merzario can judge after a diligent search. As the Bregni were related to Rizo, it seems probable that this is another misleading case of nicknames, and that the chief architect's family name was Bregno; so that Antonio Rizo was only Antonio Bregno, the "curly-headed"—from riccio, a curl.[285]
After Riccio, a Magister Bartolommeo Gonella, who died in 1505, succeeded as Proto, and then Magister Buono succeeded him. Buono was probably a grandson of the last Bartolommeo, son of "Zambono." This man, who signs himself "Bartolomeus de Cumis lapizida," had been a sea-captain, and sailed in the fleet of Melchiorre Trevisan. On his return in 1498 he resumed his hereditary profession, and in 1505 was nominated head of the building works of St. Mark's, which were now occupying the guild. The upper order of the "Vecchie Procuratie" was built under his supervision. The church of San Rocco, built in 1495, was, however, his first great work in Venice, and the next was the restoration and heightening of the tower which another of the Buono family had built in 1150, more than three centuries earlier.
When in 1516 the erection of the "Scuola di San Rocco" was proposed, Bartolommeo Buono, the head architect of the "Vecchie Procuratie," was unanimously elected. However, when he had drawn his design, and the edifice began to rise, a certain knowing brother of the confraternity (un tal saccente confratello d'essa) censured the plan of the stairs, and the work was suspended. Maestro Buono would not relinquish his design, and retired; on which Pietro Lombardo was elected in his place to continue the building. Here we have again a distinct proof of the Masonic organization, and see that in Venice they held their meetings to consider the work of their brethren, just as they had done in Milan, Siena, Florence, etc.
In 1529 Maestro Buono died, and Jacopo Sansovino was nominated Proto of the Procuratie in his stead. One of Buono's principal assistants was Guglielmo da Alzano, near Bergamo.[286] He sculptured a beautiful altar in the Servite church on the commission of Madonna Verde della Scala. It is now removed to the church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo. The great altar in the church of S. Salvadore is also attributed to him. He was a famous builder as well as sculptor, and was architect of the Camerlinghi Palace, at the foot of the Rialto in Venice. The beautiful Tasca palace at Portogruaro, of which the richly-sculptured doorway was brought to Venice, was his design, as well as the fine gate at Padua called the "Portello," and the "Porta di S. Tomaso" in Treviso.
Several other more familiar Comacine names are found in Venice, such as Gregorio and Giorgio of Carona, whom we have seen sculpturing at Udine;[287] Bernardino di Martino of Bissone, and Andrea from Milan. Francesco, son of Bernardo of Como, Simeone of Pietro, sculptor from Como, with Donato and Giovanni Busata, sons of Ser Piero da Campione, are all mentioned in the Transactions of the Guild in Venice about this time. A contract is reported in the Archivio Veneto (vol. xxxi. anno 1886, fasc. lxii. p. 169), signed on July 26, 1476, "between the Fraternity of S. Maria in S. Daniele and Maestro Giorgio, sculptor of Como, who, having made several statues for S. Giacomo in Udine, is herewith commissioned to make three figures in stone for the door of S. Maria in S. Daniele, i.e. a Madonna and Child and two angels, the statues to be figures, that may by any good Magister be judged worthy and beautiful."