Biography

Italian sculptor and architect. He is not to be identified with the craftsman of the same name who was employed to construct the piers of Florence Cathedral in 1366. Giovanni d'Ambrogio's work provided a decisive impetus for the emergence of Renaissance sculpture; he has been described as the 'true mentor of Donatello, and even more so of Nanni di Banco'.

Giovanni d'Ambrogio is first mentioned on 23 May 1382 in connection with a payment at Florence Cathedral. Between 1383 and 1386 he made the large seated figures of Justice and Prudence for the Loggia dei Lanzi in the Piazza della Signoria, Florence. He worked on lintels, sills, and similar items for Santa Cecilia, Florence, and for the chapel of the Sacro Cingolo at Prato Cathedral (c. 1388).

Giovanni d'Ambrogio received a commission for three statues for the façade of Florence Cathedral in 1388. He sculpted pieces (1391-93) for the left jambs of the Porta della Mandorla at the cathedral and in 1394 contributed a console block and other items for the doorframe. In 1395-96 he made a large statue of St Barnabas for the cathedral façade. From 1397 to 1400 he was absent from Florence. He took over as Master of the Cathedral Works in Florence in 1401, continuing in this post until 1418, except for the period from 1413 to 1415. During this period the choir, chapels, tribunes, and drum of the crossing dome were built; he was eventually relieved of his duties because of his age.

The reliefs on the upper and lower blocks of the left-hand jamb of the Porta della Mandorla show similarities to an Annunciation group (Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence), which is attributed to Giovanni d'Ambrogio. Although these statues have also been attributed to such early Renaissance sculptors as Nanni di Banco and Jacopo della Quercia because of the resemblance of the heads to antique sculpture, the conception of the figures is Gothic, stylistically related to the angels on the lower block of the left-hand jamb of the Porta della Mandorla; they may have been made by Giovanni d'Ambrogio for the portal tympanum in 1391-92. The development in which the body becomes more independent of its draperies in Giovanni d'Ambrogio's three angel reliefs is further apparent in the monumental statue in contrapposto pose (Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence) that was convincingly identified as the statue of St Barnabas made by Giovanni for the cathedral façade in 1395-96.

After 1401 Giovanni d'Ambrogio's duties as Master of the Cathedral Works may have prevented him from devoting time to sculpture. The only other work by him at the cathedral is the left section of the tympanum frame on the Porta della Mandorla (c. 1405) and a remarkable console figure in the north tribune (c. 1408). He probably also executed the three small statues of prophets for Orsanmichele (Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence), possibly during the break in his responsibilities as Master of the Cathedral Works in 1413-15; in them is apparent the old sculptor's familiarity with the early work of Donatello.