Biography

Italian sculptor and architect, part of a Lombard family of sculptors, active in Parma. His brother Marco (died after 1571) was also sculptor. Gian Francesco worked as an assistant and follower of Bernardino Zaccagni on the construction and then the decoration of the church of Steccata (1532), furthermore on the pilasters and pillars in the church of San Giovanni Evangelista, both in Parma. In 1514 he executed the window on the façade of the Cathedral Library in Parma, and the mausoleum of Montini (1507) and Vincent Carissimi (1520) in the cathedral. Between 1528 and 1536 he made the monument to Sforzino Sforza in the Steccata.

His refined, ornamental architecture reveals a Lombard style Florentine elements,