ROMANO, Gian Cristoforo
(b. ca. 1465, Roma, d. 1512, Loreto)

Biography

Italian sculptor and medallist. He was the son of Isaia da Pisa. Some scholars have followed Vasari in suggesting that he was trained by his father or by Paolo Romano, but Isaia stopped work and Paolo died too early to have had any significant influence on him. It is likely that he studied with Andrea Bregno, who worked in Rome from 1446 to 1506. He may have been in Urbino before 1482, working at the Palazzo Ducale with the Lombard master Ambrogio d'Antonio Barocci. Several doorframes in the palazzo have been attributed to him. He then probably went to the Este court at Ferrara. In 1490 he carved a portrait bust of Beatrice d'Este (Paris, Louvre), the daughter of Ercole I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, for her betrothal to Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan. The attribution of this bust derives from a letter of 12 June 1491 from Isabella d'Este, requesting that Ludovico send Gian Cristoforo, who had done Beatrice's portrait, to Mantua to work for her. The bust is inscribed with the imprese of a sieve surrounded by a diamond ring. The sieve was a symbol of Ludovico, the diamond of Ercole; entwined they suggest marriage and the hope of fertility. This bust is the sculpture most securely attributed to Gian Cristoforo and, with his medals, provides the basis for the assessment of his style.

In 1491 Gian Cristoforo went to Milan, probably in the wedding entourage of Beatrice d'Este. In that year he began work on his major surviving commission, the tomb of Giangaleazzo Visconti, 1st Duke of Milan at the Certosa di Pavia. Despite ample documentation and his signature carved on the front, it has not been possible to distinguish his work on the tomb from that of his collaborators: it is likely that he assigned most of the carving to other sculptors, particularly Benedetto Briosco. Similarly it seems that Gian Cristoforo supervised, either personally or in letters, the many other monumental sculptures and portraits attributed to him.

After the completion of the Visconti tomb and the death of Beatrice d’Este, Gian Cristoforo left Milan for the court of Isabella d’Este in Mantua, arriving in September 1497. He was in Venice in 1503 and possibly in Rhodes before this.

In 1505 Gian Cristoforo was back in Milan. Also in 1505 he was called to Rome by Pope Julius II. Letters from Isabella indicate that he was to act as her agent in seeking antiquities in Rome. Although letters refer to sculpture of this period, only medals have been securely identified, such as those depicting Isabella d’Este (gold, c. 1498), which is set in a gold frame with enamel and diamonds that spell her name, Isabella of Aragon (e.g. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) and Pope Julius II (e.g. British Museum, London).

Between 1507 and 1510 Gian Cristoforo travelled to Urbino, Naples and possibly Mantua and Fossombrone. In December 1510 he was in Loreto and by March 1511 he was working on the Santa Casa there, a project that seems to have occupied him until his death. No work on the Santa Casa has been identified as his.

Gian Cristoforo is further documented as a courtier, musician, antiquary, poet and writer on literature and art. This wide range of activities, as well as his travels and periods of illness (probably syphilis), might account for his small output.



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