LOMBARDO, Pietro
(b. ca. 1435, Carona, d. 1515, Venezia)

Interior view of the dome

c. 1485
Photo
San Giobbe, Venice

In the early 1470s, on the commission of Doge Cristoforo Moro, Pietro Lombardo supervised the building of the church of San Giobbe, Venice, which had been started by Gambello in the 1450s, and designed the architecture and decoration of its chancel. A letter of 1485 written by Matteo Collaccio establishes the terminus ante quem for the completion of the chancel. Although it specifies only that the figure sculpture was carved by Pietro, it is generally agreed that he was responsible for the architecture as well.

Pietro created the first Renaissance-style interior in Venice. The chancel's dome supported on pendentives, the articulation of grey pietra serena against white plaster and the four tondo reliefs of the Evangelists in the spandrels all derive from Brunelleschi's Old Sacristy in San Lorenzo, Florence. The small full-length angels that support the roundels resemble putti carved by Antonio Rossellino, further corroborating Pietro's preoccupation with Florentine models early in his career.