MAIANO, da, Italian family of artists
The brothers Giuliano da Maiano, Giovanni da Maiano I (1439-1478) and Benedetto da Maiano ran one of the most versatile and productive workshops in Florence in the later 15th century. They were sons of the mason Leonardo d'Antonio da Maiano and were brought up in the quarry village of Maiano, outside Florence. Giuliano was the administrative head of the workshop, which produced secular and ecclesiastical furniture and executed sculpture in a wide variety of media, as well as designing and building numerous architectural projects. They worked throughout Tuscany and also in Naples. In a catasto (land registry declaration) of 1469 Giuliano gave his own age as 38 and those of Giovanni I and Benedetto as 31 and 28 respectively. Giovanni I is mentioned in payments (1473-77) for work at SS Annunziata, Florence, and is also named in the brothers' catasti of 1470 and 1480. Nothing is known of his specific contribution to the family's enterprises. Giovanni da Maiano II was the son of Benedetto da Maiano and was one of the first generation of Italian sculptors to introduce the Renaissance style to the English court at the time of Henry VIII.
