Biography

Italian bronze-founder. Born into a well-known Venetian family, he is mentioned in 1482, first as a goldsmith and then as a jeweller, which suggests that he might have been carving hard stones. In 1484 he was employed at the Mint as an engraver of dies. Exiled in August 1487 for his part in an inheritance fraud, he was recalled from Ferrara in September 1488 to cast the equestrian statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni from the clay model left by Verrocchio at his death. He completed the casting, putting his signature on the girth strap (ALEXANDER LEOPARDUS V.F. OPUS), and designed and executed the high pedestal with marble columns and bronze frieze himself. His execution of the pedestal clearly shows his familiarity with the Classical orders. The monument was erected in the Campo SS Giovanni e Paolo in 1494.

He was employed again at the Mint in January 1496, working as master engraver of dies alongside Vittore Gambello, and he was still drawing a salary for this position in November 1521. He appears to have died early in the following year.